So Nuriko Ran Off With Tasuki
by Tinuviel42
Summary: Hotohori finally returns Nuriko's love, but something seems a little odd... erm. you like it. teehee XD pleaaase r&r!! ^.^
1. chapter 1

Yay! Read my pretty story! Um.. ok. Here's the deal. Fushigi Yuugi + characters = Yuu Watase's. WARNINGS! Language = bad, but it's not like you can't on the t.v and hear worse things. Yaoi = its there, so if you don't like it, you probably shouldn't read. And erm... some of the characters are exaggerated to my enterpretation of them. I only make fun of them because I love them ^.^ teehee PLEASE REVIEW!..even if its just to tell me my warnings are inadequate or something... as long as I know that people are even reading the first paragraph I'll be happy :D  
  
Onto el story  
  
So Nuriko Ran Off With Tasuki...  
  
"Come on... go for it! You know you want to!"  
"No! Don't do it! She's a stupid GIRL! You hate girls!"  
"What? So now we like guys as opposed to girls?"  
"No! But come on! She's hideous!"  
"She ain't so bad..."  
Tasuki looked to his left. The little bad Tasuki on that shoulder had a point. He... could go for it... He looked to his right shoulder to see an infuriated good Tasuki.  
"Oh! So now you're siding with HIM?" the good Tasuki pointed accusingly at the bad Tasuki. Tasuki looked back and forth to either one, then to the brown-haired girl in front of him. Good Tasuki also had a point. She was pretty damn ugly.  
"Here! This'll make her look a LOT better!" bad Tasuki yelled enthusiastically as he handed a very large bottle of beer to good Tasuki. Good Tasuki took a sip, latched himself onto the bottle (which was much larger than he was) and climbed off of Tasuki's shoulder and ran out the door, lugging the bottle behind him as best he could.  
Bad Tasuki nudged Tasuki's shoulder with his elbow. "Come on! She's not so ugly!" Due to the lack of good Tasuki, Tasuki decided to do what bad Tasuki said. He leaned forward and grabbed her trembling face with one hand, pulling it closer to his.  
"Don't take this personally," he reassured her with a shallow laugh, "I just gotta make an example of you... I gotta teach that lousy guy what happens when he takes my place..." he trailed off. Tasuki decided to take another look at her before he did anything he might regret. He flinched before closing his eyes and leaning in toward the girl, thinking that, yes, he would regret this.  
SMACK!  
Tasuki jerked back, totally surprised. The girl had gone from shaking and being all scared to being some kind of slap-happy cow. So not only was she ugly as hell, but she was stupid, too. He watched as she stood in a corner, practicing throwing punches.  
"Alright, alright... I don't care what you do," Tasuki said coolly, grinning a cute fanged grin. "Hell, I don't even like girls that much. So just sit down and be quiet and WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Tasuki exclaimed as the lame excuse for a woman tore his thin, white shirt off. He jumped up, incredulous that anyone would be so stupid. She was his freaking hostage! What kind of an idiot WAS she anyway?  
"I'm sorry!!1" the girl laughed apologetically, "You see, I'm Miaka Yuuki, and I'm looking for someone named Tasuki... I was wondering if you were him..." Now Tasuki was getting scared. She was looking for him? Nightmarish scenes flashed through the red-haired bandit's head.  
"Yeah? ...well I-I'm not Tasuki," he lied, "I'm Genrou-" (that's not really a lie, is it?) he was cut off as someone knocked loudly on the door. 'Praise the lord,' he thought to himself. 


	2. chapter 2

Erm. Thanks for making it this far :D Yay! I don't own Fushuguguguiguu Yuuguuu... that lady does.  
  
They walked side by side through the wooded night, the sounds of angry, upset bandits growing softer as the two wandered further off. Nuriko and Hotohori were supposed to be looking for Miaka, but, surprisingly, they had struck something with each other somehow. So, they walked wherever their feet led them, forgetting about the miko momentarily, talking about anything and everything. Nuriko was surprised at how talkative the regal emperor of Kounan could be; he was so used to his exterior that was so quiet, powerful, wistful. This Hotohori was different, though. He was not the usual, melancholy, distant man, but an eager, bright boy that Nuriko, or anyone else, for that matter, never knew of before now. They had told each other everything about themselves. Hotohori told of a lonely childhood, and a dream of a lovely miko who would one day rescue him from his cage. Nuriko told him all about Kourin. He had told nobody else in the whole world about her before now. Both of the two told of emptiness, worthlessness, and hopeless love. They walked alongside each other, the moon lighting their faces with its dim, pale light.  
"Hotohori-sama... I'm sorry about Miaka," Nuriko ventured after a silence.  
The emperor and the court lady had been talking about loved ones. For the first time, Nuriko felt genuinely sorry that Miaka didn't love Hotohori. After hearing Hotohori tell him all about how the one he loved never glanced in his direction, and how they had loved someone else from the moment he met them, how could he not feel sorry for him? He was pathetic, trying so hard not to say her name when he talked about her. Nuriko concluded that either Hotohori didn't know that he knew he loved her, or he knew that he was in love with him and didn't want to hurt the other boy's feelings.  
"Miaka?" he looked Nuriko in the eye inquisitively, who responded by quickly looking away, afraid that he might get lost in those glistening brown eyes. Every time the emperor looked at him, Nuriko could feel his gorgeous eyes burning into his. "What about Miaka?" he frowned. "Don't worry, Nuriko, we'll find her," he said reassuringly as he broke into a soft smile.  
"No, no!" Nuriko laughed. "What I meant was... don't you love her?" he braved a quick glance at him, hastily looking away before he could catch him.  
"Oh..."  
He sounded remotely disappointed.  
"Don't you?" Nuriko looked at him again, letting his violet gaze linger on his downcast eyes for a moment before snatching them away again.  
"I suppose..." he said hesitantly, unenthusiastically. Very hesitantly. Very unenthusiastically. Nuriko began to wonder...what if he didn't love Miaka after all? If not her. then who? He sighed, tossing his purple braid over his shoulder. Who was he kidding here? He was probably just embarrassed to admit that he loved Miaka.  
"But anyway," Nuriko tried to brighten Hotohori's lovely features by changing the subject. He obviously didn't want to talk about Miaka. "I'm glad we got this time to talk."  
"So am I." Hotohori replied, a tad more enthusiasm in his deep, smooth voice, "You know what?"  
"Mm?" he crossed his arms over his chest for lack of anything else to do.  
"Before now, I didn't really know you... I mean what you were really like. To tell you the truth... I was kind of reluctant to want to really know you," Nuriko felt his heart going from hopeful to dead bleeding on the ground.  
"So you don't like me?" he asked, trying to put some sarcasm in his girlish voice to hide the fact that he was genuinely hurt. Hotohori must have sensed the sincerity of Nuriko's ache in some undertone of his voice, as he quickly attempted to finish what he was trying to say.  
"Wait! Wait! Let me finish!" he glanced at the other boy, smiling, yet unsure. "As I was saying... Now that I actually do know you better than just as an acquaintance, I want to know more about you..." he stopped, scratching his cheek absent-mindedly, "I... I feel like we have something in common... lots of things. Like we're connected, you know? I can't really explain it. I'm just really glad that I'm getting to know you... and... I hope that I'll know you more... until I know everything."  
  
He flashed a quick smile.  
Eh? That was... whoa. So now Hotohori-sama wanted to know him better? Until he knows everything? Nuriko toyed with his sleeve, unsure what to say in response. He finally settled on, "You really mean it?" a shy Nuriko didn't dare look at him, for fear that if he saw him... his face, his hair, his smile glowing in the moonlight... it might make him think that he meant more by that than he really did.  
"I really mean it."  
"... Hotohori-sama?" Nuriko bit his lip, glancing sideways toward the tall emperor's direction. "This is kind of going back to the other subject, but... do you love Miaka? Truthfully?"  
"Truthfully?" he looked straight into Nuriko's hopeful eyes. Nuriko had to work to try to quiet whatever inside of him that wanted to scream out how he felt about him. "Truthfully? I guess... no. I loved the idea of her, but she's just... not what I dreamed of. I wish she were, but she's just not... and nothing can change her. I wouldn't change her if I could. I just have to stop telling myself that I love her... because I know in my heart that I don't." He didn't love Miaka? If not her, then -  
"Who do you love?" Hotohori asked suddenly, rather innocent to the fact that he was causing Nuriko to feel rather faint. He didn't love Miaka... and he wanted to know who Nuriko loved? The purple-haired seishi tried to pull the random bits and pieces of himself together.  
"Can't tell," he cooed, rather smugly, his sweet voice practically dripping with unconfined affection.  
He gave a small laugh.  
"Is it Tamahome?" he asked, quite seriously.  
"Tamahome?!" the other boy repeated, thoroughly shocked. 'Me? Tamahome? Where did he pull that idea from?' Nuriko thought to himself. Obviously, Hotohori read his thoughts quite well, and caught the unspoken 'hell no' quite clearly.  
"Then who?" he laughed.  
  
Suddenly, Nuriko found himself feeling very light-headed and dizzy as the reality of the situation sunk in. Hotohori wanted to know who he loved... and he didn't love Miaka... and that only left so many other options for his love interest. He stopped walking, hoping that he would be less likely to fall over when he wasn't moving. Nuriko played with his braid, letting his thin fingers slip through it just so.  
  
"Who do you love? If you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine," he grinned, praying with all his heart that he'd say 'you.'  
The incredibly hot emperor stopped walking as well, standing, as Nuriko observed much to his heart's pleasure and his overflowing head's dismay, less than arm's length away from him.  
"It's only fair," Nuriko smiled, even though he was dreading the answer. It wouldn't be him. Things didn't just happen perfectly like that.  
"Well..." he started mellifluously (he must be pretty darn smooth to say 'well' mellifluously....), "they're perfect... graceful... bright... funny... beautiful... interesting..." he grinned, "and the list goes on and on." Nuriko looked at the ground. He hoped that this would never get to the 'and her name is so-and-so-person-I've-never-heard-of' part. Hotohori looked into Nuriko's longing eyes as Nuriko tried very hard not to notice that he was doing so.  
He dropped his voice to a shaky whisper, "But the only bad thing... is that this wonderful person has been right under my eyes the whole time and I've just now realized how..." he stopped. His breath was ragged and quiet as he paused. His gaze fell to Nuriko's feet. "How much I love you..." he whispered, uncharacteristically nervous.  
Nuriko felt faint. Things didn't happen like this. and yet they just did. Hotohori's brown eyes wandered back up to Nuriko's. He slowly, unsurely, looked up into the emperor's, letting his gaze stay there much longer than he had planned. Hotohori loved him? Nuriko wanted to tell him that he loved him too, more than he loved anyone else in the world. He opened his mouth to say it.  
Nothing.  
It didn't seem right. He couldn't let everything just come tumbling out. It wasn't supposed to be this easy. He had never dreamed that this would happen. Well, he had... quite often, in fact. Nuriko just had never thought that it would actually happen in reality. So there they both stood, hearts buzzing, totally unsure what the other was thinking.  
Nuriko staggered a whole two steps forward and wrapped his arms around Hotohori's strong shoulders in a loose hug.  
Hotohori jerked a little, stiffened in surprise. Slowly, rigidly, he wrapped his arms around the braided seishi. Nuriko realized that this was the closest he had ever been to anyone, aside from the strange, quick hugs Miaka always tackled him with.  
The moon went behind cloud, making the already dark night shrouded in another ebony veil. Hotohori finally relaxed a little. Nuriko sighed as he felt Hotohori's warm, sweet breath on his neck. It was no longer ragged and forced, but slow and steady.  
"Nuriko..." he whispered somewhere close to the other's ear. His voice was no more than a breath, and if they hadn't been so close, Nuriko doubted that he would have been able to hear anything at all. "I love you..." he breathed slowly.  
Hotohori was seeming to feed on the heavy sensation that was building inside his heart. Nuriko wondered if he should say it... He decided on yes, and somehow he managed to get it out, breathily, wobbly, nervous, needing, "I..." he inhaled sharply, making a soft gasping sound. He clenched his moonlit eyes shut. He couldn't say it.  
So he'd just try again. "I..." he lost all control over what his mouth was saying, and as a result, didn't make too much sense. "I... you... I don't... Hotohori-sama... agh..." he managed to stop there, halting his unintelligible whispers.  
"I know..." Hotohori said, in a hush. "I'm sorry..." he pulled away from Nuriko slightly, who quickly let go of him. Sorry?  
"For what...?" he whispered in muted alarm.  
"I just... I shouldn't have assumed that you..." the emperor cut himself off, taking a step back.  
"Assumed what?" Nuriko pleaded with himself. Give me another chance! Please! Please let me have another chance to tell him! I swear I won't back out if you just please give me a chance!  
"I'm sorry..." Hotohori said, downcast eyes. I'll do it right this time! ...Please...  
Nuriko just stared at him, eyes wide, terrified that Hotohori was going to take it all back. He pleaded and begged silently to Suzaku to let Hotohori love him.  
Hotohori looked Nuriko over pitiably. Finally came a whispered, "You do love Tamahome... don't you..."  
He sounded so sad.  
Tamahome?! Damn it! Hotohori STILL thought that he loved Tamahome?? He had already told him that he didn't! "I can barely STAND Tamahome!" Nuriko scoffed, rather loudly.  
Quickly realizing that he had completely slaughtered the mood and displayed its severed head on a thirty-foot stake as a warning to others, he tried to salvage what he could. He surprised himself by smoothly, despite his nervousness, sweetly whispering, "The only one I've ever loved... was you," he bravely raised his eyes to meet Hotohori's.  
"Really?" he breathed hopefully, getting an almost clumsy grin on his face. He never looked so happy, so beautiful. Nuriko thought that he looked even more attractive when he was happy (considering how hot he is even when he's miserable...hey ;))  
"Yes!" Nuriko said much the same way Hotohori had, clumsy grin included. Nuriko took a breath. "I love you..." Whispering that somehow made the smile fall from his face as he gazed into the emperor's eyes. Suddenly, Nuriko found himself with the same light head and unstable knees as before. Hotohori's smile faded as well, and was replaced with something else. Nuriko found himself shaking as he imagined what it would be like if Hotohori kissed him...  
"Who's there??????111" came a high-pitched squeak, sending both seishi flying away from each other, much to both's dismay.  
"Shut the hell up! You trying to get us caught?" came a voice that Nuriko recognized as the one belonging to the red-haired bandit who had taken Miaka. Knowing that, Nuriko concluded that it had been Miaka who had initially broken their moment. He could kill her later. In the meantime, Nuriko just looked around, trying to see where they were, as their voices had not been far off.  
Slowly, the whole party came into view. Miaka appeared to be safe. There were two bandits with her. One had dark hair and a scar on his cheek. Nuriko remembered him from earlier. And the other... the one who had jumped out the window with Miaka and unleashed those paper wolves on them... Though he was not nearly as gorgeous as the emperor, Nuriko still couldn't take his eyes off the bandit's fiery red hair and clever eyes. 


	3. chapter 3

Weeeeeeeee! :D Yay! I don't own Fushuguguguiguu Yuuguuu... that lady does.  
  
The following day, Hotohori sat by the river they had been following. Those bandits last night seemed more hospitable than one would think... they had provided them with food, a warm place to sleep, and information. They were so close to finding the rest of the seishi. Hotohori looked around, tossing a wave of brilliantly shining brown hair over his shoulder. Miaka and Nuriko must be off somewhere talking.  
Talking. About what?  
He stood up, brushing himself off lightly with his hands before going to look for the two. Thankfully for his steadily tiring legs, they were not far off. He stopped to look at them for a minute. Both Nuriko and Miaka were sitting under the shade of a tree. Hotohori heard Miaka's voice speaking in a very animated, vivid tone as she waved her hands around. Nuriko simply sat, smiling at her contently.  
Hotohori took a few more steps toward them before Nuriko looked over, his smile growing into a grin. Hotohori smiled smally, walking up to join them.  
"Hotohori!!!!!!1" Miaka called happily, waving him to sit down with them. "Where have you been?????/?"  
"Ah... just resting by the riverbank. It's quite peaceful," Hotohori replied his voice deep, thick.  
"Oh? We were just talking about what we thought the other seishi would be like!!!!!1"  
"Is that so?" Hotohori chuckled before furrowing his brow slightly.  
"Hotohori-sama? What's wrong?" Nuriko inquired, scooting himself a little closer to where the emperor had sat down. Nuriko had made a point not to tell Miaka what had happened in the forest the previous night. He had no intention of ever telling her... maybe she would just figure it out on her own. Nuriko was overflowing with joy every time he thought of Hotohori. He smiled.  
  
"I... I started to cook some fish... and I think I may have let the fire go out..." Hotohori said, looking back toward the area in which he came from.  
"Really? I didn't even smell the fire! Do you want me to go check it for you Hotohori-sama?" Nuriko offered, trying to be helpful in any way possible to his love.  
"Oh, no! It's alright," Hotohori shook his head.  
"I'll be right back!" Nuriko grinned as he hopped up, merrily running to see about the fish. He ran slowly along the riverbank a little ways. He looked back, unable to see Miaka and her seishi, as the thick trees blocked his view. The purple-haired boy brightened as he saw their luggage sitting by a tree. This must be where Hotohori was making his fish. Odd... there wasn't any sign of even an attempted fire. Nuriko fluttered up to the pile of several bags that contained their food, their tents, and other necessities. There was nothing around the bags. No sticks piled up, no grass cleared, nothing. Maybe he was just in the wrong place. Nuriko continued along the riverbed for a while, searching for the spot that Hotohori had been speaking of.  
He sighed and frowned a little after a few minutes' walking had led him to absolutely nothing. Oh well. At least he had some time to think without Miaka's loud, chirpy voice interrupting his thought process every two seconds. It was strange... after what had happened the night before, Hotohori hadn't acted any differently toward Nuriko. Nuriko bit his lip as he searched for an explanation. Maybe he, like himself, didn't want Miaka to know... Nuriko smiled a little. That must be it. Maybe Hotohori was just waiting until they could get some time alone before he was going to say anything about it. Even though nothing had happened at all between the two of the since the previous night, Nuriko was still soaring high above the clouds with complete and utter happiness. Ever since last night, things seemed brighter... everything seemed to be good in the world. He supposed that the world just seemed that way when someone was in love with you... He grinned to himself, continuing to happily walk parallel to the river, away from Miaka and Hotohori.  
  
"Hotohori...???//" Miaka started up as soon as Nuriko was out of sight, "do you think that Tamahome will come back?????11" her brown eyes were wide with concern for her captive lover.  
Hotohori was silent for a long moment, thinking, before he replied. "You really love him, don't you...?" (lmao Hotohori apparently has some obsession with people being in love with Tamahome...)  
Miaka looked to her hands. "Yes... I'm sorry, Hotohori, but I do."  
"But Miaka... just until we get word from him... won't you give me a chance...? I love you just as much as you love him..." Hotohori looked pleadingly into her eyes. Miaka just looked at him with that sickeningly pathetic look on her face that she always gets whenever Tamahome isn't around.  
The emperor looked deeply into his miko's eyes, searching for a 'yes' somewhere, even just a hint of a vague one. Miaka looked back into his. This was the second time within two days that this had happened. Last time, they had been interrupted before he had a chance to kiss her, so Hotohori just went straight into it. No use in wasting any time.  
He stroked her cheek with his hand as he leaned in to kiss her, his eyes slowly closing. His lips touched softly to hers.  
"NOOOOO!!!!!!!111111111" Miaka tore herself out of his embrace, jumping up. Hotohori grabbed her gently by the wrist, looking up into her cold eyes, pleading his silent case of love upon her deaf ears.  
  
Nuriko looked up. He thought he had heard someone yell out... He sat a few moments longer, on a rock by a calm area of the river. He looked up to the sky before grabbing his shoes, which he had discarded by his side, and pulling his feet out of the cool water. He stood up, waiting a moment for his feet to dry before putting on his shoes, which were quickly wearing out. Nuriko brushed the hair out of his face.  
He heard the shout again, this time recognizing it as Miaka's. He forgot about putting on his shoes and started running back toward where he had left Miaka and Hotohori a while earlier, his wet feet gathering mud as he ran at top speed along the muddy part of the riverbank.  
  
"Miaka!" came Nuriko's scratchy, concerned yell. Miaka turned around to see Nuriko running quickly toward her, purple braid flying behind him as he bounded through the trees. He slowed down as he neared her, stopping a few feet in front of her, leaning over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath (he had run a long way). "Miaka," he gasped, "are you alright? I I heard you yell out..." he looked up to her with large, brilliant violet eyes teeming with worry.  
"Yes I'm alright," she smiled back in that fake, unconvincing Miaka-lie way, "A wolf was in the woods behind me... It just scared me. It didn't do anything, though... just walked off in the other direction. I'm alright. Nothing happened."  
"Whatever," Nuriko wheezed, recognizing the tone. He plopped down to rest, not feeling in the mood to try to wedge the truth out of her. After a few moments he began to wonder, "Where is Hotohori-sama?"  
"He's down there..." she pointed a little ways off to an area covered in trees. Nuriko got up slowly and started walking toward the emperor. He ducked through the trees, smiling when he saw Hotohori gathering branches in a small clearing.  
"Hotohori-sama..." he called softly. Hotohori turned to where the voice had come from and looked up, smiling faintly. "I didn't find where you were talking about... with the fish..."  
  
"Oh..." he didn't seem all that surprised as he went back to gathering firewood. Luckily for him, Nuriko didn't catch on to that. He was too busy admiring how the sun reflected perfectly off of the beautiful man's hair. Hotohori turned back around to him, smiling to see Nuriko so near. He lightly took hold of the strong seishi's small, soft hands.  
"I love you..."  
Nuriko smiled, nervously. "I love you too..."  
"Will you help me?" Hotohori asked sweetly, releasing Nuriko's hands and gesturing to the wood he had been gathering.  
"Of course..." He was so happy every time he remembered to himself the sound of Hotohori's voice when he said that he loved him... 


	4. chapter 4

Fushigi yuugi = the anti-mine. Thank you for the readingses! :D  
  
They had found two seishi in one day! The first, surprisingly was the red- haired, fanged bandit! He had not wanted them to know that HE was Tasuki because he wanted to stay with his fellow bandits, but with a little pushing from his friend, Kouji, he had been convinced to come find them. Although Tasuki's lie nearly got them killed, it also led them to the sixth seishi, Mitsukake. He was a tall, muscular, dark-haired, and unbelievably boring man. Mitsukake had saved Miaka from being consumed by the demon that could supposedly bring people back from the dead. The demon had possessed Mitsukake's lover, Shouka, who had died of an illness nearly a year ago. It was very tragic, thought Nuriko as he stood watching the newest seishi carry Shouka's dead, battered body to its resting-place. He turned, looking solemnly to Hotohori's still, sad face, then to Miaka's and Tasuki's. He and Tasuki had sort-of bonded earlier. The two had quickly become friends.  
  
Later, just as most of them were starting to, for the first time, seriously regret that the bandits had kept their horses when they captured them earlier, the five of them decided that they would stop where they were and set out their tents.  
Nuriko, who had been appointed to carry all the luggage, tossed the various bags onto the ground, going for the one that contained the tents. Just then it stuck him, and apparently everyone else that there were only four tents.  
All eyes went to Hotohori.  
"Ah..." he shut his eyes in frustration, "When we were planning to leave, I guess whoever packed our tents must have planned on us only finding ONE seishi..."  
"Someone'll have to share tents," Miaka looked around, "and since I'm the only girl, I get my own tent."  
"What about Nuriko?" asked Tasuki innocently. Nuriko blushed crimson, realizing that Tasuki thought that he was a girl, a mistake not too hard to make.  
"What about Nuriko?" Miaka said. It wasn't really a question. Tasuki flinched slightly as he thought to himself, 'I almost had to KISS that a few days ago...' Miaka finished assigning tents according to the best of her logic. "And of course Hotohori gets his own tent..."  
"Why the hell should HE get his own tent?" Tasuki demanded, quickly laughing an apology as he saw the glares of the Miaka, Hotohori, and Nuriko.  
"And since Mitsukake is the biggest of us all and he's so boring, he needs his own tent..." She finished. Apparently that was the final word about it, as Miaka, Mitsukake, and Hotohori all three simultaneously took their tents and scattered a little to set them up, leaving Nuriko and Tasuki standing there with a single folded-up tent and poles in front of them. Tasuki laughed a little, nervously, giving Nuriko a lopsided, fanged grin before he bent over to pick up the tent.  
"Well? Help me set it up," the bandit grinned.  
  
The two had worked for nearly half an hour trying to get the tent up. Nuriko was already inside the small tent, laying out blankets for them. Tasuki was elsewhere, doing who knows what.  
"Goodnight Nuriko! Goodnight Tasuki!" Miaka's voice squealed merrily. Nuriko stuck his violet head out of the tent's opening, flashing a cute grin.  
"Goodnight everyone."  
"Hey, outta my way," Tasuki walked over, kneeling beside the tent, "I need to get in." Nuriko scooted himself to the back of the tent as Tasuki, stumbling, crawled in. He sat himself up, having to slouch down rather low due to the height, or lack there of, of the tent. "Heheh... Kinda cozy."  
Nuriko laughed a little, shaking his head. "Let's go to sleep," he said. Somehow, Tasuki never failed to amuse him.  
"Sure," Tasuki replied, laying down on the side designated 'Tasuki's side'. He reached over, putting out the small lantern they had in there. Tasuki stretched out, the sound of humming insects putting him, suddenly, in a very tired mood.  
After a pause, Nuriko looked to Tasuki's dark figure. "You know what?" he lowered his voice a little, as he didn't want to wake the others, although the tents were fairly well spread out and they probably couldn't hear him anyway.  
"Aa?" Nuriko heard Tasuki turn to face him.  
"Hotohori-sama is really nice..."  
"You two are a thing?" he propped himself up on his elbow, his cheek resting on his hand.  
"I guess so... We haven't really talked about whether or not we're officially 'a thing' yet..." Nuriko stared up at the top of the tent, lowering his eyebrows a little.  
"Why the hell not? I bet he's just nervous because he likes you so damn much!"  
"You really think so?" he turned his head toward Tasuki, although he wasn't able to see much except the dark outline of him. "Do you think we're good together?"  
"Yeah! You two are great together!" the red-haired bandit said enthusiastically, "I can just see it now! You two are gonna get married and- "  
"But I don't really know if he even likes me that much..."  
"What? You mean he hasn't even told you he likes you yet?!"  
"He has... he just doesn't act like it unless we're alone..." Nuriko turned his head back away from Tasuki, looking at the side of the tent, which wasn't too interesting.  
"He's probably just shy or something!" Nuriko couldn't think of a reason why an emperor would be shy about anything, but he didn't say anything to Tasuki. "Hell! He's probably not sure that you like him... Guys are like that. Well, a good guy is like that. I'm sure someone like me wouldn't be like that," Tasuki grinned, chuckling a little.  
Nuriko laughed, "Tasuki you're not a bad guy! I bet you're more shy with people than Hotohori-sama is!" Nuriko could practically feel Tasuki blushing.  
  
"Aa no way! I'm a bandit! You wouldn't believe some of the horrible things I do."  
"Of course, Tasuki-chan."  
"Hey! Don't be callin' me that shit!"  
"Shh! You'll wake the others up."  
Nuriko grinned into the night. Tasuki was so much fun to mess with. He was always stuck on the fact that he was bad and wild and whatnot, but the truth was, Nuriko actually thought he was one of the sweetest people he'd met, besides Hotohori. When you took away all the cursing, egotistical- ness, life of crime, and alcohol, Tasuki was just a big sweetie. "But you're probably right..."  
"Damn straight!"  
"No, no! You are sweet!"  
Tasuki growled.  
Nuriko grinned, brushing the hair out of face, "I meant what you said about Hotohori-sama." Nuriko sighed. "He's so sweet... and handsome... brave... perfect..."  
"Hmph."  
"Something wrong?"  
"Nah! You two'll be great," he let out a yawn. In his opinion, Hotohori was over-rated. Sure, he was good looking, but he was also really stuck up and vain... "So how did you find out that he likes you?"  
Nuriko rolled over onto his side, facing Tasuki again. "Well," Nuriko got a huge smile just remembering what had happened. "It was the day that we first met up with you... And we were in the woods looking for Miaka. I assume she was with you at the time?"  
Tasuki shuddered to remember. Miaka had gotten a... little better since that night, but not all that much. She was still ugly as hell. Not like Nuriko...  
"And he just kind of told me..." Nuriko's smile grew even more. He paused. "I just hope he meant it..." his smile fell completely.  
The bandit heard the decline in Nuriko's tone, and quickly went to make him feel better. "Of course he did! How could anyone resist a hot sexy thing like you??"  
Nuriko nervously looked around, seeing nothing but darkness. It was weird. He'd worked so hard to keep people thinking he was girl, but then when they found out he was really a guy it seemed really weird, and as soon as he had gotten sort-of used to it, it felt even weirder to have people think that he was a girl...  
"Somethin' wrong?"  
"...No."  
"Alright, well I'm going to sleep," Tasuki stated as he stretched out and closed his eyes, the whole world quickly fading away into nothing. 


	5. chapter 5

Short'un. Blah blah I don't have fy.. or something like that. I love all of you XD  
  
Tasuki blinked the sunlight out of his eyes. They had been walking since a little after sunrise. It was nearly noon now, which was around the time that Tasuki was used to getting up. "It's too damn early..." he grumbled aloud.  
"It's past noon!" Miaka exclaimed. "And we still haven't found the last seishi, so we have to keep looking!"  
"For the love of god, kill her!"  
"Ahh..." good Tasuki took a swig of his quickly emptying bottle, "just ignore her and hopefully she'll go away..."  
Tasuki looked quickly to both his shoulders, where the two miniature Tasukis stood. "Go away," he hissed, swatting at his shoulders.  
"I wasn't doing anything..." said Miaka as she took a step away from him anyway, just to be safe.  
They had already walked a very long ways that day, and all members of the party were getting thoroughly tired. The hot sun was beating down on their backs, further draining them of energy. They hadn't eaten anything at all that day.  
"Can't we at least stop and rest for a while?" came Tasuki's weary voice after a few minutes.  
Hotohori looked around, surveying their current terrain. "Yes... I think we should be able to stop here for a while," he smiled, glancing over to Miaka. Nuriko saw this and scowled at both of them.  
"Yes!" cried Tasuki, apparently regaining all his energy as he ran in front of them and plopped down under a tree.  
  
Nuriko shook his head, laughing silently at the bandit. He then looked over to Hotohori. "Hotohori-sama? Will you come help me find something for all of us to eat?"  
Miaka raised her head up and joined in, "I'll come with you!" Nuriko rolled his eyes, his whole plan for him and Hotohori to steal a minute alone shot.  
"It's alright, Miaka. You should stay here and rest," Hotohori was obviously catching Nuriko's drift. "Nuriko, I'm going to rest here as well." Or maybe he wasn't catching it at all.  
"But Hotohori-sama... everyone is hungry and I can't possibly find enough on my own," Nuriko glared at him, whining.  
"I'll go with you," Tasuki stood up, ambling toward the group.  
Nuriko ignored Tasuki. "Hotohori-sama, please come with me."  
Miaka looked around to each one of them, obviously realizing that she was missing something.  
"I'm tired, Nuriko... I've been walking all day." Hotohori tried to explain.  
"So have I," replied Nuriko, curtly. There had to be some real reason why Hotohori didn't want to spend time with him. Nuriko kept his fiery eyes locked on the emperor's.  
"Well I'll just go if you two are going to fucking stare each other down all day," Tasuki announced before hesitantly turning to walk off, casting a glance in Nuriko's direction.  
"Wait... Tasuki, I'm going..." Nuriko's eyes were fixed on Hotohori's until he turned around and caught up with Tasuki. 


	6. chapter 6

Huttah! Make reviews happen :D pwwwwease  
  
"Why?" Nuriko started for what Tasuki thought to be nearly the hundredth time, "Why wouldn't he come with me?"  
  
"I'm tellin' ya... Maybe the guy was actually tired! Damn, I know that I'm tired!" Tasuki said, even though he knew exactly what Nuriko would say in response, as they had gone through this sequence many times before in the last hour or so.  
"But not too tired to come with me!" Nuriko argued back for the hundredth time. "I mean... why would he rather stay there than come with me? Is there something wrong with me?! Is he just too good to go with me?! --" the red-haired bandit didn't think he could take much more.  
"God! Would you shut the fuck up already?" Tasuki said through clenched teeth. "All you women ever do is whine! Who gives a shit about why some guy won't do this or do that?? Women just think they're too damn good for anyone!"  
Nuriko widened his blazing eyes furiously.  
"Uh oh... Shouldn'ta done that..." Tasuki looked to his left shoulder to see a little bad Tasuki standing there.  
"Why sha'ell d'ju do da'?" Tasuki looked to his right shoulder to see a very drunk good Tasuki, clutching the half empty bottle of beer next to him.  
"Quick! Apologize to her! Look at how pissed she is!" bad Tasuki pointed at Nuriko, who had picked up his pace and was now a good ways in front of Tasuki, marching off, arms folded stiffly in front of him. Tasuki blinked.  
"Yer'ight... thishtuff DOEShmake'rlook BE'er..." good Tasuki observed as he took another large gulp out of the twice-as-tall-as-himself bottle.  
"You idiot! Of course she looks better! It's a different girl!" the miniature, bad Tasuki corrected good Tasuki.  
"Oh..." good Tasuki stood, very wobbly, latched onto the bottle for support.  
"But you gotta go apologize! I mean, yeah, she was getting annoying... but women always do! She'll like you better if you apologize! And if she likes you a lot she'll... well you know," bad Tasuki grinned (a note on good/bad Tasuki: it's not that the bad Tasuki is actually good and the good Tasuki is actually bad... It's just that good Tasuki is usually drunk, and bad Tasuki wants to get laid, and to achieve that goal, he has to keep everyone happy), "I bet she really puts out!"  
Bad Tasuki had a point, so Tasuki walked a little faster, trying to catch up with Nuriko, who, by now, was pretty far ahead of him and still going.  
"Nuriko!" Tasuki called. Nuriko, he noted, didn't respond. "Shit. Nuriko!" he yelled a bit more loud and urgent.  
No response.  
Tasuki started running toward the angry seishi. "Nuriko!"  
He finally turned around, a very unamused look across his face. Nuriko promptly turned back around and kept walking when he saw Tasuki running toward him. Who did he think he was, yelling at him like that when he was already upset?  
Tasuki put his hand on Nuriko's shoulder as he walked, keeping up with the violet-eyed seishi's brisk, angry pace.  
"Nuriko, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said... It just kinda came out. That happens with me a lot... Sayin' stuff I don't mean... I'm sorry," Tasuki said, sounding genuinely sorry. His usual blunt tone was now softer, more delicate. Nuriko turned his head slightly, the view of the apologizing bandit coming into the corner of his softening eyes. "'Course I don't know what the hell I said to make you so damn mad..." Tasuki finished, causing Nuriko's Tasuki-o-meter to plummet severely just as it had been slowly rising after the previous drop.  
Bad Tasuki smothered his face into his hand, shaking his head and muttering obscenities under his breath. "Go away..." Tasuki tried to whisper to bad Tasuki without Nuriko hearing him.  
Nuriko, of course, did hear him and did think that Tasuki was talking to him.  
"Fine."  
Tasuki stopped dead as he watched Nuriko jerk away from him and run off, out of sight.  
"Damn it..." Tasuki muttered, jogging to find Nuriko.  
  
He found Nuriko sitting on the ground next to a large tree, his knees pulled up to his chest and his head resting on his knees. Tasuki walked quietly over and sat down next to him, the cool shade feeling good as a gentle breeze blew through the afternoon air.  
"Hey..."  
Nuriko just turned his head a little toward him, gave him a dirty look, and turned back away.  
"Look... I'm really sorry."  
Not even a dirty look.  
"I really am," Tasuki said honestly. "I just don't think enough before I say stuff... And if there's anything I can do to make you feel better, I'll do it."  
Nuriko turned to look at Tasuki, head still resting on his knees.  
Tasuki gave a small fanged grin. "Anything. Uh..." he thought for a moment of things that Nuriko would want him to do. After a moment of contemplation, a few things came to mind. Quickly dismissing all the sexual favors as something Nuriko would NOT want, he decided on, "You want me to go talk to Hotohori for you?"  
Nuriko's frown flashed into a slight smile for a split second.  
"I'll ask why he wouldn't go with you."  
"Really?" Nuriko smiled a little, not feeling so mad at Tasuki any more. He guessed that Tasuki was just the type of person that you couldn't be mad at, no matter how obnoxious he was.  
"Hell yeah!"  
"But... please don't tell him I wanted you to? You know, just casually ask..."  
Tasuki stood up. "Got it," he grinned before running off to do Nuriko's bidding.  
  
Tasuki hadn't realized how close they still were to the others. They had walked for nearly an hour to get to where they were, but he guessed that maybe they were just walking so damn slow that it took them forever to not go very far. Somewhere, Tasuki got the idea that he would surprise Miaka, Mitsukake, and Hotohori. So he snuck up to where they were, hiding behind trees, getting closer at a slow pace. He was just about to pop out at them when he heard Hotohori's deep voice.  
"Miaka... I love you... Why won't you give me a chance?"  
"Great fuck!"  
"...Did you hear someone...?"  
Tasuki held his hand over his mouth to prevent any further outbursts.  
"Oh well... Miaka..." Hotohori's voice turned sickly sweet again.  
"Hotohori," Tasuki flinched at the sound of her chirpy, squeaky voice, "I love Tamahome..."  
"Please, Miaka... I really love you... if only you had any idea how much..."  
Tasuki sighed silently. "Shit..." he murmured under his breath, "Nuriko's not gonna like this..." he ran his hands through his hair, thinking of what he should do. He threw his head back... accidentally hitting it against the tree trunk. He mouthed several curse words, trying to keep as silent as possible as Hotohori and Miaka's dialogue kept on in much the same manner.  
The bandit stealthily snuck a good ways away from them before breaking out into a run to get back to Nuriko.  
  
"Well?" Nuriko looked up as he saw Tasuki's figure approach through the trees.  
Tasuki wiped his forehead with one hand as he tried to make up something. "Yeah! I ninja-ed over there and... Yeah... well I went over there and... and he was asleep! Really tired guy. So he was asleep... but I asked him anyway! 'Why wouldn't you go with Nuriko?!'"  
Nuriko nodded enthusiastically, begging Tasuki to continue. Tasuki grinned as he realized that Nuriko was buying every bit of it.  
"So... So he SNORED at me! Real loud! ...Yeah! And he said 'Ohh Nuriko...' or something in his sleep. Really."  
Nuriko furrowed his delicate brow a little. So he really was tired... Poor Hotohori... Nuriko wished he hadn't acted so mad at him earlier for not agreeing to go with him. (Note: Nuriko isn't stupid for believing Tasuki, just thoroughly lovesick for Hotohori.) Nuriko stood up slowly.  
"Where ya goin?"  
"I was going to go back..."  
"No!"  
"What? Why not?"  
"Uh... You can't! ...You can't wake up Hotohori!"  
"Oh... Right," Nuriko smiled. "But I'm still going," Nuriko happily walked off. Tasuki figured there was nothing he could do about that except go with him and hope that Hotohori wasn't still hitting on Miaka.  
  
To the best of his ability to think, Tasuki figured that they'd better let them somehow know that they were there before they were in sight of them.  
"HEY!!!"  
Hotohori lifted his head to the direction of Tasuki's voice. He had been sitting with Mitsukake, talking about politics as Miaka dozed lightly under a tree.  
"Hotohori-sama!" Nuriko called as they neared, "How was your nap?"  
"...Nap?"  
"Yeah, Hotohori," Tasuki prayed that he would play along, "I came over to check on you guys and you were asleep," the bandit glared at Hotohori then flickered his eyes over to Miaka so that Hotohori would get the point.  
"Ah yes," Hotohori smiled good-naturedly, "And did you two find anything to eat?"  
"Nope," Nuriko shrugged as he sauntered over to Hotohori and sat down next to him.  
Hotohori laughed a little, "Oh well." He dropped his voice to a whisper, so that no one else would hear, "At least I have you back here with me..."  
Nuriko could do nothing but grin.  
Tasuki could do nothing but scowl. 


	7. chapter 7

Shortest post ever. hehe  
  
That night, after the tents were all set up, Nuriko crawled inside his respective tent to see a very pissed-looking Tasuki, sitting there arms crossed, head ducked low (the tent wasn't tall enough to sit up in). He just couldn't get it out of his head why the hell ANYONE would go behind a hot girl like Nuriko's back just to try to get it on with some PIG. It made no sense whatsoever.  
"Tasuki," Nuriko began sweetly, "What's the matter?"  
"Nothing." Tasuki was pouting.  
"Alright..." he sighed dreamily, "You wouldn't believe what Hotohori just did..."  
"Bet I wouldn't."  
"He thoroughly apologized to me for not going with me earlier today... He said he didn't realize at the time how much it upset me. And then... he kissed me..." Nuriko gave another sigh, flopping backward onto the blankets, his head just beside Tasuki as a result of the floppage. Tasuki looked down at the lovely seishi, who closed his eyes and grinned hugely. "He's a great kisser..." Another happy sigh. Tasuki swore to himself that he was probably way better than some stuck up two-timing prick.  
"Mmm." Still pouting.  
"Jealous?" Nuriko grinned.  
"Jushtell'er ye love'er!!" a still drunk good Tasuki yelled into Tasuki's ear, causing him to jump a little.  
Bad Tasuki rolled his eyes, "Maybe you shouldn't tell her you love her, but damn! At least tell her that her man's cheating on her!"  
"Shut up!" Tasuki grumbled. Why did those guys always appear at the wrong time?  
Nuriko looked at him perplexedly. "What?"  
"Uhh no! I didn't... Uh yeah. Goodnight."  
Nuriko looked at Tasuki a little longer, incredibly confused. "...Goodnight...?" He reached over and put out the lantern. 


	8. chapter 8

Oy bugger! Fushigi Yuugi isn't like... mine and stuff.  
  
The sight of a town as they were walking the next day seemed like one of the best sights any of them had ever seen. They neared the town, which consisted of only about two dozen buildings, each one planning what they were going to do upon their arrival. Miaka planned to head for the nearest restaurant. Hotohori wanted to find an inn. Nuriko wanted to do whatever Hotohori was going to do. Tasuki wanted to see if this sorry excuse for a town had a bar. Mitsukake wanted to go somewhere and bore people. To death. He chuckled maliciously to himself. So they arrived at the town, stopping just before they reached the first small one-room building.  
"I'm going to see about accommodations," Hotohori stated flatly.  
"I'm hungry..." Miaka whined, rubbing her stomach.  
"Aa... I need something to drink," came Tasuki's grumbled complaint. It had been nearly a week and a half since he had gotten plastered, which, for him, was far too long.  
"Hotohori-sama... I'll go with you to see about the inn... Tasuki would you go with Miaka? I'm sure there's somewhere that'll serve both food and... yeah. Go with Miaka," Nuriko said, eyeing the various buildings.  
"Right," Tasuki said, unhappy about the fact that he was stuck with Miaka, but his unhappiness was made up for by the joy that he felt in knowing that he would soon be very, very drunk. He beckoned Miaka and the two walked down the main dirt road of the small town.  
Miaka called over her shoulder, "We'll meet you back here at sunset!"  
  
Nuriko turned around to Hotohori, smiling. Hotohori smiled back.  
"Shall we get going?" Nuriko asked, his hands folded behind his back.  
  
"Of course," Hotohori said, taking a step forward before turning around to make sure Nuriko was following.  
Mitsukake was left alone at the entrance to the city. If anyone came by, they would become a new addition to his list of victims. But for now, he sat down, admiring his toes, pondering them.  
  
Nuriko had noticed something different about Hotohori since that night... Well, not really different. He was acting the same as always, which was differently than he had acted that night. Nuriko guessed that he had expected him to keep acting like that... not just to revert back to his usual quiet, regal self.  
"Nuriko? What are you thinking about?" Hotohori said, cocking his neck to look into Nuriko's eyes as they were walking.  
Nuriko flashed a quick smile. "Nothing, Hotohori-sama."  
"Look over there," Hotohori pointed to a two-story building, one of the only ones in the town. "Do you think it's an inn?"  
"Only one way to find out," Nuriko hesitantly walked up to the door, politely drumming on it a few times. The door creaked open, a young girl with waist length black hair standing before him.  
"Can I help you?" she said, her voice as sweet as... something sweet.  
  
"Uh, yes..." Nuriko lowered his head apologetically. He didn't know why, but he was uncomfortable about asking help of strangers. "We're travelers... And we were looking for an inn..." he trailed off.  
"Oh yes! Come in!" she smiled, stepping out of the way, "This is the inn."  
Nuriko turned to Hotohori, silently telling him to go in first. Hotohori obliged, gracefully strolling inside, subconsciously making a face of tremendous repulsion as he saw the shabby inside of the small inn. Nuriko noticed this and laughed a little quietly.  
The girl led them up the narrow, crooked stairs. "So are you two married?" she asked rather innocently.  
Hotohori seemed to be at a loss for words, so Nuriko took over. Hotohori soon realized that he should have just gone 'yes' to avoid conflict. "Erm... no, you see, I'm not a girl," Nuriko said flowingly. He had trouble asking for help of strangers, but he had no problem whatsoever with making them uncomfortable.  
"Oh...," the girl smiled vacantly.  
Nuriko ran a hand through his thick hair as the girl showed them into their room. "Uh... we have three others that are going to be joining us... Is that alright?"  
"Oh yes. We have another room. The bedding is in the closet... Have a nice night," her eyes lingered on Nuriko for moment, obviously searching for some sign as to what gender he really was.  
Nuriko smiled as the girl shut the door and left, leaving Hotohori and himself alone. Alone. It was mid-afternoon, about two hours away from sunset. Nuriko grinned. Hotohori stretched out a little before sitting down in a small chair that was in the corner. Nuriko went and sat on the floor by Hotohori's chair, smiling up at the emperor.  
"Nuriko..." he whispered, smiling, reaching down to stroke the seishi's hair. He stopped suddenly, furrowing his smooth brow. "What is your real name?"  
Nuriko was a bit surprised at this sudden question, "What made you think of that?" he looked puzzled into Hotohori's eyes, who showed no sign that he was going to answer the question, so... "It's... It's Ryuuen..." he gave a dry laugh, "It feels so odd saying it... I haven't used it in..." he thought for a moment, "seven years..." Nuriko rested his head against the side of the wooden chair, remembering how sweet his sister had sounded when saying that name. "Ryuuen..." Hotohori repeated, taking it to memory. "Mine is Saiheitei..."  
Nuriko looked up at him, grinning a bit, "I know." Hotohori suddenly got up. "Where are you going?"  
"Here," he smiled, sitting next to Nuriko on the floor, immediately leaning over to kiss him.  
  
Elsewhere, Miaka and Tasuki sat at a table in the small pub, a large stack of plates growing in front of Miaka, a large stack of empty glasses of beer growing in front of Tasuki. Tasuki grinned his lopsided, fanged grin as he noticed, much to his pleasure, that he was starting to feel a little woozy. When Miaka started talking again, Tasuki did his best to ignore her and cherish the feeling of drunkenness beginning to seep into his brain.  
"But I really miss Tamahome... I hope that we find the last seishi soon so Tamahome can come back... I wonder how we're going to get him back. Something tells me that Yui won't just let him come walking back just like that... But oh I miss Tamahome so much... What if he doesn't want to come back???11 What if he's with Yui right now? But... no. Tamahome loves me! He wouldn't do that to me!!! I love Tamahome..."  
Tasuki slammed the latest empty glass down on the table before starting, his voice growing lazy, "Why the hell do girls feel free to tell me ALL about their love life... but they won't let me fucking be fucking part of it...? I mean don't get me wrong... There's no way in hell I'd ever do anything with YOU... but damn! It's all Nuriko ever talks about! Blah blah! Hotohori! Blah! Ohhh Hotohori's sooo fucking hot! I'm so in looooooove with Hotohori! I don't give a damn about Tasuki! He has no fucking chance in hell with me! Noo..."  
Miaka looked out the window, too lost in her own thoughts to even hear what Tasuki was saying/drunkenly rambling. "Oh!" she jumped out of her seat suddenly, "Come on Tasuki! We told them we'd be back by sunset!"  
"Yeah? So? Whaddya gonna do about it?"  
"Tasuki we have to go!" she dropped some money on the table.  
"I ain't goin nowhere!" Tasuki slurred.  
"Come on!" she pulled his arm up.  
"Okay okay... Just don' touch me. Yeegh..." the bandit slowly, unsteadily got up and shuffled out the door as Miaka led the way.  
  
"I wonder what's taking them so long..." Nuriko wondered aloud as he and Hotohori stood at the place they had agreed to meet. Luckily for them, Mitsukake was still sitting there, but he had taken off his shoes and was staring intently at his toes...  
"Well... Miaka going somewhere with food... Tasuki going somewhere with liquor... Something tells me that they're not going to be in any rush to leave," Hotohori reasoned. He glanced over to Mitsukake to see if he was watching. Mitsukake was staring downward, poking at his toes with a stick. Hotohori turned slowly back to Nuriko, smiling boyishly before dropping a quick kiss on his lips. "I love you, Nuriko," he kissed him again, letting it last until he heard Miaka's shrill voice a few seconds later.  
"Come on Tasuki!" she whined. Hotohori and Nuriko both whirled around to see where they were. Luckily, they were just stepping into sight and hadn't seen them kissing. Miaka was pulling on Tasuki's arm, leading him as he drunkenly stumbled down the dirt road.  
"Hey! Hands offa me..." Tasuki jerked away from her grasp, frantically wiping his sleeve where her hands had been. Miaka grabbed his arm again when he started leaning sideways, threatening to fall.  
  
"Mitsukake," Hotohori called over to the tall man, "Let's go." Mitsukake slowly put his shoes back on and got up. The three of them walked over to Miaka and Tasuki.  
"The inn's this way," Nuriko said, heading off toward the building that was their home for the night.  
  
Several hours later, they were all sitting around in the larger of the two rooms that they had rented for the night. Well, Miaka, Nuriko, and Hotohori were sitting around, talking about where they were going to go tomorrow to look for the last seishi. Mitsukake was busy dunking Tasuki's head in a bucket of cold water, trying to relieve him of his drunkenness. Suddenly there was a lot of yelling and splashing as Tasuki grabbed the bucket and emptied it over Mitsukake's head. Obviously the effect of the alcohol had worn off.  
Tasuki walked slowly over to Nuriko, his soaking hair dripping down his face and onto his partially soaked shirt. "Hey Nuriko? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Nuriko turned a little, glancing quickly to Hotohori and Miaka to excuse himself before stepping away toward Tasuki. "Of course." Tasuki motioned him over to the far corner of the room, where he sat down on the floor, wiping the water off of his face before engaging in conversation.  
  
"So... How did it go with you and Hotohori?" his voice was a husky whisper. He obviously didn't want anyone else to overhear.  
Nuriko looked over to the person that was the topic before looking back to Tasuki, whispering back, "Fine... why?"  
"Just wondering... So what did you two do the whole time?" he was still whispering.  
Nuriko stifled a grin, blushing a little.  
"Ohh-ho!" Tasuki returned the grin, nodding slightly, "So is he any good?"  
Nuriko went redder before hastily whispering, "We didn't do THAT! We... we were just talking... and stuff," he looked to the ceiling, smiling. "He's just so perfect, Tasuki..."  
Tasuki raised his eyebrows, feeling as though he'd just been slapped in the face, "Yeah..." he looked around the room, "Well I just wanted to know how things went..." he sighed, "I'm trying to look out for you." He got up slowly, dropping the whisper and announcing loudly, "I'm goin'a bed" he reached into the closet and pulled out a rolled up mattress (one of the thin kind that you sleep on the floor with) and blanket, laying them out against the wall.  
Nuriko looked back over to Hotohori, who was now standing with Mitsukake in addition to Miaka. "How do we divide up the rooms?" Nuriko asked, "Cause I'm ready for some sleep, too." Tasuki gave him a fanged grin.  
"Why not boys in one room and girls in the other?" Nuriko suggested playfully, walking toward the door. Everyone except Tasuki rolled their eyes at Nuriko's referral to himself as a girl. "Coming, Miaka?" he said, smiling.  
"Yeah!" Miaka practically ran out the door, calling behind her, "Goodnight!"  
Nuriko looked to Hotohori, giving him his sweetest smile, "Goodnight..."  
Hotohori smiled back, giving Nuriko a meaningful look, "Goodnight, Nuriko..."  
Nuriko backed up toward the door, turning around and closing it behind him, thinking how these past few days had been the best ones in many, many years.  
  
Miaka had insisted on making her bed next to Nuriko's... Miaka had told him that there was something she needed to talk to him about. Nuriko shrugged. He couldn't think of anything that Miaka would want to talk about except Tamahome, so he braced himself for a long, annoying conversation.  
"Nuriko...?" Miaka said after a few moments of them laying there, getting themselves comfortable for the night. Here it came. Oh, I just miss Tamahome so much. I really hope we get the seventh seishi soon, so Tamahome can come home! I love Tamahome. I hope he's doing alright. I wonder what he's doing right now... "I know you're not going to like what I have to say..." Damn straight. Hmm... when had he started cursing? Nuriko laughed inwardly, thinking that Tasuki must be rubbing off on him. "But I need to talk to someone... and since you're one of my best friends..." she started, somewhat differently than Nuriko expected. Since when had she needed to make sure someone was her friend before babbling to them about Tamahome? Nuriko thought to himself, no difference... She must be catching onto his lack of interest in the subject of Tamahome. Miaka sighed, her eyes searching around the room.  
"Hotohori's been acting weird lately..." she said hesitantly, as if she didn't want to say what she was about to say for fear of being brutally murdered by a certain violet-haired admirer of Hotohori... This, of course, totally took Nuriko off guard. Nuriko's eyebrows shot up. Had she caught on to the two of them?? How would he explain it to her? "Lately," Miaka took a deep breath before letting the rest roll out, not giving Nuriko a chance for it to sink in, "at least a few times a day, like when we stop to rest or something and we're alone he always tries to kiss me and he tells me that he loves me and I feel really sorry for him because I don't love him that way, and it seems like he really likes me, but at the same time it scares me because he does it so often and I don't know what to do..." Nuriko's mouth dropped open slightly. He blinked in confusion. Miaka kept on. "And I know that you're probably going to hate me for telling you this, because I know how you like him, but I really need to think of a way to stop this and I feel so wrong when he tries to kiss me because it's obvious that he loves me, but I don't love him and I feel like he's forcing me to betray Tamahome and-"  
Nuriko stopped listening as she went on. He didn't know what to do, but he felt that he should do something. So he slapped her.  
"Nuriko please don't be mad at me... I'm sorry, but.." she trailed off as Nuriko quickly got up and marched out the door and across the hall to the other room. He slammed the door off its hinges, sending it flying across the room. He had prepared to angrily cuss out Hotohori, but soon found that he lacked the stomach for it as three pairs of eyes were on him, one of which were Hotohori's.  
Nuriko planned a fierce, growling yell of 'HOTOHORI, HOW COULD YOU, YOU BASTARD?!' but it came out as more of a strangled, whimpered whisper, "Hotohori-sama..."  
The emperor got up quickly, walking over to Nuriko to try and comfort whatever was troubling him.  
Nuriko jerked away from his touch, his throat feeling rather choked at the moment.  
"What's wrong...?" Hotohori asked, soothingly. Nuriko turned around, hiding his face as his vision blurred with tears that Nuriko was determined not to let fall, "Nuriko...? What's wrong?" Just then Miaka walked in from the other room. All at once Hotohori understood all too well what was wrong. "Oh god..." he took a step backwards.  
Nuriko drew in his breath sharply, as if he were going to scream, which he very much felt like doing. That plan, however, failed him, so he turned on his heels and slowly descended the stairs and walked out of the inn, muttering something incoherent about going outside. Once he was outside, he didn't know what to do. He just stood there a moment, his face contorted slightly as he tried to hold back the sobs that were strangling him.  
Upstairs, everyone stood perfectly still, nobody being daring enough to face Nuriko when he was upset, as they all know that he could, and probably would, beat them to a pulp. Miaka gave Hotohori a puzzled look. No one had noticed that Tasuki had stood up until he shouted "Y'asshole!" abruptly at Hotohori before marching after Nuriko. ( go Tasuki!)  
Nuriko turned around suddenly at the sound of Tasuki's rich, and at the moment, gentle voice, "You alright?" Nuriko stood there a moment, his forehead wrinkled, contemplating the situation before he couldn't take it anymore. He lunged forward at Tasuki, jarring the bandit into the side of the building. He buried his head in his shoulder, crying and feeling rather stupid.  
Tasuki's first thought was to yell at him for smacking him around into houses, but that, he decided, was a bad idea. So he settled on simply, stroking his long, violet hair, which was out of its usual braid and spilling over Nuriko's shoulders and down his back, whispering incoherent, yet comforting things to him. Tasuki couldn't help but smile as he felt Nuriko's thin arms tighten around him.  
"Shh... Shh..." Tasuki whispered after a few minutes or so of being pinned to the side of the wall, "Nuriko...?" he lifted Nuriko's chin a little with a few fingers under it. Nuriko opened his red eyes slowly, wincing at the thought of how he must look. "Ah," Tasuki tilted his head a bit to the side, "Look at you... You're a mess." Nuriko closed his eyes as Tasuki wiped his tears with one of his rough, callused hands. Tasuki brushed Nuriko's hair out of his face before smiling, "A little better..." he looked Nuriko over, "Damn, you're hot."  
As upset as he was, Nuriko laughed slightly, shakily at Tasuki.  
"Ah! That's much better!" Tasuki grinned as he saw a slight smile flicker over Nuriko's features. "Come on... You wanna go get something to eat...? I don't think you've had anything..." Tasuki led him off to the small pub he and Miaka had been at earlier. Nuriko found himself a little surprised at the fact that Tasuki hadn't said anything stupid yet, and had actually made him feel a little better. Nuriko smiled, temporarily not worrying about Hotohori as he walked arm in arm with Tasuki. 


	9. chapter 9

Erm. FY isn't mine. Ohoh. Erm. This part gets um... smutty? Like... its not limish.. but um. The same general idea. Oh well. You like it XD And if you don't like it, don't read it. And if you read it, review it :D   
  
"Closed," Tasuki lamented, shaking his head as he and Nuriko sat on the ground a few yards from the dark building. Nuriko didn't feel like talking. He just sat there, staring at the ground in the cool night air. How could Hotohori do that? He had seemed so honest when he told Nuriko how he felt... Was he just lying the whole time? But... why? Why would the emperor, who has a whole harem of women waiting for him at the palace, lead another guy on like that? It made no sense whatsoever...  
"Aw, come on, Nuriko... Cheer up..." Tasuki looked over to him, "You know... I don't even think that Hotohori bastard deserves you!"  
Nuriko played with his hair, rather mopily. This compelled Tasuki to continue. "Well it's true! The problem is just... trying to figure out how I can say it..." he scratched his head, thinking, "Well you know you're beautiful... I don't need to tell you that. I've sacked like thousands of villages and raped all their women," Tasuki exaggerated... a lot... Er. Tasuki completely made it up. "And I ain't ever seen one as pretty as you!" Tasuki didn't exaggerate at all. "And the way you talk! ...It's just so elegant... and pretty... It's like someone really elegant and pretty talking!"  
Nuriko rolled his eyes, laughing silently despite his gloom.  
"But the most important thing about the way you talk... is you talk SO sincerely! That Hotohori prick... every word outta his damn mouth I swear must be a lie! And a good, honest voice like yours deserves something better'n a lying voice like his!" Tasuki pointed at Nuriko as he was saying this. "And you know... you're nice to talk to... He's just NOT. He's almost as boring as that Mitsufeukuu or whatever he's calling himself these days!" Nuriko could't help but laugh out loud, "And when you smile... it just makes people turn to MUSH! I would know!" he was getting pretty involved in this speech by now, "And you're funny!" Tasuki listed off on his fingers, "And you're smart! And you cook good! And you smell like flowers! And dammit! He does not deserve the fucking flowers!" he shook his fist.  
Nuriko blinked, amused. He paused a little, trying to find the right words. "Uh... Thanks," he laughed.  
Tasuki laughed along, flashing a fanged grin, "But of course I didn't need'a tell you all that... you've probably heard it a thousand times from a thousand guys..."  
"Actually no..." Nuriko smiled, amazed at how much better Tasuki made him feel, "Nobody's ever told me anything like that before..." Nuriko tried to forget all the things Hotohori had said to him. They were a lot more eloquent... but... somehow they weren't as nice as Tasuki's compliments...  
"Shit..." he muttered, "There you go smiling again..."  
"Kiss'er!" bad Tasuki yelled in his ear. Tasuki suddenly noticed how close he was sitting to Nuriko. "Come on! Do it! You know you want to!" this was true.  
"Nah..." good Tasuki started weakly, clutching his head, eyes half closed, face scrunched, "She's in a vulnerable position... At least wait until a few days've passed..." he sighed, "Dude... can I go back to bed now...? I'm starting to feel sick again..."  
"But what if you don't get another chance? What if that damn bastard wants her back? NOW IS THE TIME FOR ACTION!" Bad Tasuki pointed dramatically.  
"Okay, okay... just kiss her... but don't go too far, or she'll hate you... Just let her know how you feel... or something..." good Tasuki rubbed his head a little. "Urk!" good Tasuki suddenly jumped off Tasuki's shoulder, tripped, got up and ran off to the nearby bushes.  
"Poor guy... all hung-over... Oh well. He'll be better. But anyway! KISS HER!"  
Tasuki bent his head down, leaning forward, planting his lips on Nuriko's cheek. Just a small kiss on the cheek. Wouldn't hurt anybody. Tasuki found himself wondering why he always wound up doing what his bad side told him to, but his thoughts were cut off as Nuriko scooted closer to Tasuki, leaning his head on Tasuki's shoulder. Tasuki smiled and put an arm around Nuriko's shoulder, feeling giddy as a schoolgirl.  
The red-haired seishi thought for a moment. He soon verified his idea and went forth with his new plan. "Nuriko..." he whispered. Nuriko lifted his head looking up as Tasuki. Everything was going according to plan. The bandit delicately stroked Nuriko's cheek before leaning in to kiss him again, deeply.  
Nuriko jumped a little, as he was not expecting to find himself being kissed... by Tasuki of all people. Not that this was a bad thing, Nuriko decided. He noticed how, compared to the way Hotohori kissed, Tasuki was more aggressive, demanding... exciting. Hotohori had always seemed unsure. Tasuki, however seemed to have much more conviction in his kiss. Nuriko decided that he liked Tasuki's kissing better. Tasuki wrapped his arms around the other seishi. Nuriko thought how the way Tasuki kissed was more forward, more honest. Tasuki pushed Nuriko on his back, laying on top of him. Yes, Tasuki was definitely more forward, Nuriko decided. Nuriko lightly wrapped his arms around Tasuki, whose hands, the violet-eyed seishi thought, were getting dangerously close to his chest... And if Tasuki still thought that he was a girl... Nuriko jerked away suddenly as Tasuki attempted to grab what wasn't there, causing the bandit to fall forward, his face smashing into the ground.  
Nuriko stood up quickly, looking down at the ground as Tasuki bolted upright, rubbing his head. Nuriko prayed that he had jerked away before there was time to notice anything unusual. Tasuki slowly turned to face Nuriko, looking at him for a moment, thinking, before he asked, rather bluntly, "Where'ryerboobs?"  
Trying to think of an escape, Nuriko stood there, looking around into the dark night. What followed was a long, awkward pause in which neither of them spoke or moved. It was hard to say how much time passed before Tasuki stood up, taking a small step toward the other seishi.  
"Nuriko..." he sounded rather calm for just finding out that the person he'd just been thoroughly making out with had been a guy. "You think I care about that kinda thing? Who gives a shit if you're a little flat?" Ah. That would explain the lack of shock. He still thought Nuriko was a girl... just not a very well endowed girl. Not well endowed at all. Tasuki shook his head a little, continuing, "I still say you're the prettiest girl I've ever seen..."  
Nuriko slowly drew in his breath, letting it all out in a sigh. He ran a hand through his waist-length hair.  
"And... and I..." Tasuki looked over to a nearby tree, throwing a dirty look at good and bad Tasuki, who were rooting him on and making catcalls. Tasuki tried to ignore them, knowing that this was the wrong thing to do. Tasuki looked at Nuriko, deciding that even if it was the wrong thing to do, he would explode if he didn't say it. He lowered his voice so that they wouldn't hear him. "I... I love you, Nuriko..." he glanced quickly to Nuriko, who simply stood there, unsure of what to say. It seemed to Tasuki that a small chunk of his heart was being brutally hacked out each second that passed in Nuriko's frigid silence.  
Neither one was sure as to exactly how long they stood there, but it could be agreed that many an uneasy minute was spent standing there before Nuriko finally answered him. "Tasuki... I'm getting tired... I'm ready to back to the inn..."  
Needless to say, Tasuki was utterly devastated and crushed as they walked in silence to the small inn, up the stairs and to their respective rooms.  
Tasuki sat down on his bed, hitting himself in the head repeatedly for being such an idiot. What was Nuriko supposed to say to him? He hadn't really expected him to go 'Oh Tasuki I love you too! That whole thing with me liking Hotohori was just a plot to get you!' He sighed, wondering why he had just blown any chance he ever had with the only girl he'd ever liked. He lay down to go to sleep, thinking that for something that was supposed to be the greatest thing in the world, love hurt an awful lot.  
  
Nuriko went in and closed the door. He stood there, leaning against the door, looking into the dark room, Miaka's faint snores in the background. He slowly slid down, sitting vacantly against the door, eventually falling into an uncomfortable sleep. 


	10. chapter 10

"Nuriko... are you ok?" Miaka called sleepily to Nuriko, who was sleeping sitting up against the door. Miaka pushed herself out of the covers and went over to the violet-haired seishi. "Nuriko, I can't get out with you blocking the door like that..."  
"Nuriko are you ok? When did you and Tasuki come back last night?" She shook the voilet haired boy.  
"Nuriko, we need to get going..." Nuriko groaned.  
Nuriko opened his tired eyes as he got up very stiffly, walking over to put his unused bedding supplies back in the closet, trying to decide to himself whether last night had been a good thing or a bad thing. All he know for sure was that he would be completely content to not have to show his face around Hotohori or Tasuki. Nuriko whipped around, facing the back wall as Tasuki slowly opened the door.  
Miaka beamed. "Tasuki! How did you sleep? Aren't you excited about today? We might find the other seishi today!"  
Tasuki hesitated, taking a breath before slowly, too steadily than was normal saying, "All of us are ready to go. Whenever you're ready." Without even so much a glance at Nuriko, he stepped out of the room.  
He really hadn't expected Nuriko to react like that last night. It was one of the few times in his life where he actually felt genuinely depressed. He was able to brush most things off as not important... But Nuriko was definitely important. He strolled down the stairs, slowly, as if in some kind of funeral procession. But really... What point was there to love? And how did he even know that this was actually love? According to everything Tasuki had heard, love was supposed to be the greatest thing ever. It was unarguable that what he felt right now was horribly painful, whatever it was. So how could it be love?  
Even if it were love, everything that Tasuki had ever heard about love told him that love fades. He folded his arms, stepping outside into the brisk, dewy morning air. People would claim true love, promising their love forever, wanting to live with their love forever... Then love would fade, dry up, and be gone forever. So what if he loved Nuriko? For one thing, Nuriko didn't love him back... and even if he did, what was the point if they were just going to drift apart or hate each other after a heated argument? Tasuki kicked the ground, looking up as the door opened.  
"Tasuki," Hotohori acknowledged his presence as he closed the inn door behind him.  
Tasuki nodded slightly in return. Hotohori came up beside Tasuki, although still a few feet away from him, joining the bandit in leaning against the building, arms crossed. (if only they had sunglasses... then they would be cool.. x.x;;)  
The next to arrive downstairs was Miaka, closely followed by Mitsukake, who just waved to everyone before going to sit down a little ways away. Miaka bounced eagerly, stupidly, "Good morning Tasuki! Good morning Hotohori!"  
"Morning..." was all Hotohori had to offer.  
This pissed Tasuki off for some reason. "What? Aren't you gonna go try to get it on with her? Don't worry. Nuriko's not fuckin' around to see you."  
  
Hotohori did nothing but cast him a very, very mean glare.  
Miaka blinked, "Gee! I wish I weren't so stupid!"  
"Do you have any idea how damned long Nuriko was crying over you?? Over a bastard like you... How the hell can you do that to someone?" Tasuki shouted at Hotohori, his hands in fists at his sides. Tasuki became more enraged as Hotohori did nothing.  
  
Nuriko walked down the stairs, not looking forward to seeing anyone. What was he thinking last night when he ignored Tasuki like that? He bit his lip hard. He heard shout from outside, recognizable as Tasuki's. Nuriko slowed his already sluggish (nuriko's not a slug! :() walk, as, the more he thought about it, the more he really didn't want to see Tasuki or Hotohori. Well... he wanted to see Tasuki, he just didn't know whether or not Tasuki wanted to see him. He reached for the door leading outside, hesitantly pushing it open. He squinted as the bright morning light beamed down on him suddenly. Obviously, Miaka was the only one who noticed his arrival, as Hotohori and Tasuki were a good ways off, Tasuki screaming at Hotohori, who was just standing there looking rather peeved.  
"Nuriko! Good morning!"  
Nuriko looked over as he thought he heard Tasuki shout his name in the midst of what he was yelling at Hotohori about. "Good morning, Miaka..." Nuriko gave her a quick smile before watching Hotohori and Tasuki.  
Soon after he turned his attention to them, the spectacle was over. Tasuki reached over and shoved Hotohori completely over before turning around, his hands in his pockets. His original plan was to go back over to Miaka, but when he saw Nuriko standing there next to her... Nuriko probably wouldn't want to talk to him, so he just walked around in circles as Hotohori pulled himself up off the ground, brushed the dirt off, and ran his hands through his long hair, looking, for a moment, as though he might tackle Tasuki from behind.  
"Tasuki! Hotohori! Come on!" Miaka waved them to come over to where her and Nuriko were standing. Nuriko really wished she hadn't done that. His heart was almost ready to crash as Hotohori tossed his thick hair, sending the sun flying off of it in all directions. The seishi tried to calm his eyes, which were making threats never to work again if they couldn't count the visage of the angelically beautiful emperor theirs. Nuriko's heart reasoned back that, yes, he was beautiful, but at the same time, his ways were the most horribly ugly disfigured thing ever. Nuriko was caught amidst a battle in which he was not entirely sure what side he was on. Suddenly, he was ripped from the battlefield, where most were dead, but those who lived on fought with conviction for his love, as he caught sight of Tasuki. Nuriko sighed. All at once he was positively sure that he had no idea what he wanted.  
There was Hotohori, who was quite undisputedly the loveliest creature ever to grace the earth with his heavenly presence. He was, in short, perfect. Money? All anyone could ever spend! Power? He was the EMPEROR! Looks? There was no better to be found. Brave? He was one of the bravest people Nuriko had ever met! Sweet? He was as sweet as he was powerful. Filthy cheating liar? Why yes! Obsessed with himself? Well at least you don't have to worry about finding love when you are your own true love... Well maybe he wasn't perfect... But Nuriko had been in love with him for years before he even met him! Sure, it had never really been anything more than a crush up until lately... but the love was still there. And if he couldn't get the emperor for his sister, then who? There wasn't anyone else that would do. His sister deserved the best of the best, and who's better than the emperor?  
Tasuki. Nuriko had known him little more than a week. A week. It seemed like a lot longer than that... Definitely a lot longer... He knew Tasuki too well to have only known him a week. They had become such good friends. It seemed like they had known eachother since they were born. Tasuki was far from perfect, though. He swore, he drank, he stole, he had probably killed people... Nuriko cast him a brave glance as the group walked down the small road leading away from the town. Tasuki was definitely good-looking. Not in the same way as Hotohori, though. Hotohori was beautiful... there was really no other word for it. Tasuki was just... unexplainable. The way his hair fell onto his face carelessly. The way his smile was slightly lopsided. The way he always stood, barely slouching, as if he was so cool that the world bored him. The way he laughed. Nuriko could never tell whether it sounded like he was nervous or if that was something else in his laugh... he couldn't put his finger on it... So many things about Tasuki were like that. The way he always whipped out that stupid fan every few minutes. The way he spoke. His voice was so animated. Nuriko furrowed his brow as he tried to remember the name of the dialect Tasuki spoke with... Well, whatever it was, it sounded incredibly sexy when it came from the bandit's mouth... Nuriko went on in his mind, seemingly being able to go on forever. The way he always acted like such a child. The way he wasn't like a child at all. The way he could always find a way to make Nuriko laugh. The way Nuriko felt when Tasuki looked at him. The way he thought Nuriko to be a girl. The way Nuriko knew that he would hate him if he knew the truth. The way Tasuki was looking at him right now. What? Nuriko quickly removed his eyes from Tasuki's, not realizing that they had been so thoroughly plastered there.  
Nuriko pulled himself against his will back into reality. They were a few miles away from the town now. The sun was blazing heat down on them as it rose higher into the sky. This was the hottest it had been yet all year, as the spring was slowly growing into summer. Nuriko wiped his forehead, wishing there was something he could do so that he wouldn't be so hot. He looked around to the other members of the uneasy group.  
Miaka had on her short brown skirt, which came down to a little above her knees, and her matching brown jacket over it. Maybe that was why Hotohori liked her... she was always wearing such a short skirt! He had heard many other members of the harem back at the palace gossiping about how slutty she dressed, especially considering she was the priestess of Suzaku. But anyway, she must have been feeling the heat more than Nuriko was because of her jacket.  
Hotohori was wearing his 'commoner' clothes. He didn't look common in them at all. His outer layer was mostly red. He was dressed about the same as Nuriko was, with two long thin layers and thin ankle length pants.  
Tasuki must have been burning up in his stiff, thick black jacket. Probably stolen from a very wealthy man. His pants looked like they were made of heavy material, too. Nuriko wondered to himself how Tasuki could stand to wear such hot clothing in such weather.  
Mitsukake, who had been keeping to himself a lot since they met up with him (cuz he's boring!!), seemed to be doing alright with his thin, loosely bound yellow overshirt and thin white shirt underneath. Nuriko blinked as he noticed for the first time that Mitsukake had a cat in his shirt. Nuriko's thoughts were somewhere along the line of 'hmm weird... yet... incredibly boring.'  
  
Nuriko himself was wearing a long-sleeved red over-thing. He wished that it weren't quite so tight around his neck, as it was quite uncomfortable in the heat. He reached up to unfasten the top of his shirt- thing, nonchalantly glancing around.  
Just as his eyes darted to Tasuki for a split second, he realized that Tasuki was looking at him. Nuriko undid the closure on the neck of his shirt. Tasuki's eyes went wide in confusion. Was Nuriko stripping for him?? Nuriko blushed a little as he noticed that Tasuki was staring at him quite interestedly. God, what? Did he think he was going to strip or something?  
Nuriko gave Tasuki a 'what is it?' look.  
Tasuki mouthed to him, 'What?' making his lack of comprehension clear.  
'What is it?' Nuriko mouthed back.  
'What?' Tasuki scrunched his face a little in confusion.  
'What?' Nuriko tilted his head to the side slightly.  
'What?'  
Nuriko rolled his eyes, turning to look straight ahead of him rather than to the side at Tasuki.  
Tasuki sighed. Great. Now not only did Nuriko hate him, but he thought that he was stupid as well. He put his hands in his pockets, slouching a little as he shuffled along. He didn't get it. He told Nuriko that he loved her and now she hated him. Granted, it wasn't exactly a good time considering she had just found out about Hotohori and all... but still... Maybe if he tried telling Nuriko again. He decided that he'd do it when they stopped to rest. 


	11. chapter 11

I don't have FY. Haha I love it when Tasuki is mean to Miaka :D it's so random lol  
  
"Can we stop and rest? My feet hurt," whined Miaka. Tasuki twitched.  
Mitsukake looked around, "I suppose we could stop here." (hehe I don't think he's had a single line yet... I felt sorry for him and gave him one x.x)  
After that, Miaka instantly flung herself to a sitting position on the ground, whining idiotically about how hungry she was and how badly her feet hurt. Hotohori slowly found a place to sit down, pulling his sword out of the sheath, just staring at it fascinatedly. (maybe he'll kill Miaka!! :D that would... almost make up for his being icky to Nuriko. But nothing, even the extermination of the stupid one can make up for people wronging Nuriko!) Mitsukake sat down somewhere being boring. Tasuki remained where he was, thinking of what he would say to Nuriko, who, unbeknownst to Tasuki, had wandered off on his own to find some quiet place where he could go to be alone.  
Just as Tasuki had finished his wonderful plan, he whipped around, his mind set on telling Nuriko just how he felt. He saw Miaka, Hotohori, and Mitsukake... but no Nuriko. Hesitantly, he walked up to Miaka.  
"Aa, Miaka?" he cringed slightly as her repulsive face turned to look at his. "D'you know where Nuriko is?"  
She looked around, "No... but he should be back. Why?" "No reason... I just wanted to talk to her." Tasuki's face contorted in self-disgust as he said what he was about to say, "Miaka... Can I talk to you since Nuriko's not around?"  
"Sure!"  
"Ok... Before I start, I'd just like to say that you're the damn ugliest girl I've ever seen, but... Well you're always rattling on and on to me about your love life... So I'm gonna rattle to you about mine. I figure you owe me."  
Miaka stared at him blankly. "Spongecake!!!1"  
"It's Nuriko... I mean, I know I've only known her a little while... but I love her," he sighed, thinking how pitiful it was that he was talking to Miaka, "And it's fucking not fair... She's all infatuated with that Hotohori bastard and there's nothing I can do about it... Last night I even TOLD her that I loved her... and she IGNORED me! Just stood there for a while before being all 'let's go back to inn' -"  
Miaka cocked her head to the side a little, "I didn't realize that you were... that way..." she added as Tasuki paused.  
"What? You don't think a bandit is capable of love?"  
"It's not that. Just...you know... gay."  
Tasuki jumped back a little, "What? Where the fuck you pulling these crazy ideas from?? I ain't no gay! I'm talking about Nuriko! It would be gay if I were talkin about how much I loved Hotohori or Mitsukake or you or something! You sick fuck! I like GIRLS."  
"Yeah... But Nuriko..."  
"Yes! Nuriko! Remember her? The OTHER GIRL?!"  
"But, Tasuki... Nuriko's a boy..."  
Tasuki burst out laughing.  
"You mean... you didn't know that?"  
"What?" he abruptly stopped laughing, "She is?" Confusion. "No she's not! Just when I thought you couldn't get any stupider..." he got up and walked over to Hotohori, sitting on his knees in front of him.  
Hotohori looked up from his sword. "Yes?"  
"Is Nuriko a guy?" To the point.  
Hotohori looked at Tasuki a moment before nodding. "Yes... he is. You didn't know that?"  
"What?! Ahh no!!" he buried his face in his hand, "How?" Tasuki was rather alarmed.  
Hotohori just looked at him, trying to figure out exactly what the bandit's problem was. The emperor contemplated as Tasuki went on.  
"But she's so damned pretty! And her hair! It's all silky! And her face!! She's too pretty! And she smells like fucking flowers!! Alright. Obviously, you like to fuck with people's heads. My head doesn't like to be fucked with, so just stop. God... What's wrong with you people?"  
Stress management classes? Hotohori thought. "But you were WITH her! The hell's up with that? If she's a guy then how come you pulled your whole big stunt with her and Miaka?" Tasuki stood up and started pacing in front of Hotohori. "How come no one TOLD me? I mean it's not like you can just look at her and go 'well that's one hell of a man!'"  
"I thought you would have figured it out..." Hotohori said, his calm tone a total contrast to Tasuki's insanely loud, uneasy one.  
"Ahh!!!! Is there anything ELSE that I was supposed to figure out?" Hotohori thought, vaguely wondering if Tasuki knew that he was the emperor or not...  
"You know what? You're lying! There's no way that a hot girl like Nuriko is a guy. This is all some weird kind of a joke. This is-" he cut himself off as Nuriko walked back toward them from a small path he had been walking on. Nuriko stopped as Tasuki stared at him, something akin to anger in his eyes.  
He was almost afraid to ask, "What...?"  
"These people," Tasuki gestured around with his eyes, suddenly raising his voice, "These people! Apparently find it fucking hilarious to scare the hell outta me!"  
Nuriko took a step back, "What..." he was confused, but very aware that something was not right.  
"They're trying to tell me that you're a guy!" he laughed a little, running a hand through his hair.  
Nuriko's eyes flew very wide.  
"What's wrong? I know they're just messin' with me..." he took a step toward the purple-haired seishi, who took another step back.  
Nuriko swallowed, almost muttering, "It had to be sooner or later..."  
"WHAT THE FUCK!" he felt Nuriko cowering under his harsh voice and words, but did nothing except continue, "Holy shit! You mean you're... FUCK!" he threw his hands down to his side, taking a few steps around in a small circle. "HOW?!"  
Nuriko took a few more steps back before turning around and running away.  
"Wait!... erk... ah... oh shit... I DIDN'T MEAN IT!" Tasuki took off running after a quickly fleeing Nuriko, nearly tripping as he sped through the thick underbrush. "Nuriko, I'm sorry!"  
Nuriko suddenly stopped, Tasuki almost slamming into him as he tried to stop as well. Nuriko stood there for a second, trying to catch his breath, "I should have told you... And I shouldn't have ran off..." Nuriko turned to look to see if he could still see Miaka and the others. All he could see was forest.  
"Shit... you shouldn'a run off so damn fast..." Tasuki said, catching his own breath, walking over to a large rock and sitting on it. He waved Nuriko to come over to him. Nuriko followed, standing in front of the bandit. "But... Why didn't you tell me? It woulda made things one hell of a lot easier."  
Nuriko was silent for a moment, trying to think of the reason why he hadn't told him. "I guess..." he looked down at his hands, "At first it didn't occur to me at all... I just assumed that you knew. But then by the time I realized that you didn't know... I was afraid you wouldn't like me if I told you..."  
"Shit... well... I know now and I still like you. I like you for things other than your... well, fuck... you don't have those. But yeah. Like I was saying--"  
"Tasuki... I'm sorry..."  
"I'm the one trying to apologize here!"  
"No. I'm sorry about last night..."  
Tasuki sighed, "So am I. But..."  
"Don't do it!! Get away! Far far away!" Tasuki's brow furrowed as he tried to ignore bad Tasuki, who was yelling loudly into his ear.  
"Whajoo sayin'? Doncha LOVE'er??" good Tasuki had gotten drunk again.  
"Her!" bad Tasuki scoffed, "'Her' is a GUY!"  
"Awha?"  
  
"A guy!!"  
"Bu'... Deybeena GUY deholTIME! Ishnot lik' she jus... SHUDDNLY ishaman! Dinja love'er whenshe wuzzaLAdy?? Ishda same Lady..."  
Tasuki blinked. Good Tasuki actually had a point. It wasn't like suddenly Nuriko wasn't the same person as before... Nothing had changed.  
"But..." Tasuki picked up where he left off earlier, "Even if you're a guy... Hell, I never thought I'd be sayin' anything like this..."  
"No! No damn it! NO! DON'T DO IT!" bad Tasuki screamed.  
He took a breath, "But here goes. Even if you're a guy, I'm still in love with you," he said, brushing off his shoulders, sending good and bad Tasukis flying away, "I love you for everything about you... not just for the fact that you're the only decent girl around here. And decent is an understatement! I wasn't lying when I said you were the prettiest girl I'd ever seen!" he continued. Nuriko wondered what he was getting at, as did Tasuki, "But I know that you don't like me that way... so I'm just kinda embarrassing myself by saying all this cause you're probably thinking how stupid I am... but what I'm wanting to say is that I love you for who you are. Heheheh... I've always hated girls anyway... damn nasty, tricky people..."  
Nuriko blinked. "What?"  
"I love you," Tasuki repeated, "But not in some weird gay kinda way! It's just kinda like the person I love just happens to be a guy... and I know for sure that nothing's gonna change the fact that I love you."  
"Tasuki..."  
"...Yeah...?"  
"Why are you doing this?"  
"Because... I love you. I really love you," he turned his head to look at Nuriko, who was looking at him puzzled. "And you wouldn't have to worry about me chasing around some ugly pig behind your back... There's no reason why I would..." he laughed, "You're the damn prettiest girl ever... even if you're not a girl. And... Last night... Being rejected by you... That was the worst feeling in the whole world," he sighed, almost unaware that he was still talking out loud, "But not because I was rejected. Because it was you. So it's kinda stupid that I'm putting myself through this again, I guess..."  
"Tasuki..." Nuriko interrupted, staring off into the sunlit woods, "You're not."  
"Not what?"  
"Being rejected."  
  
Tasuki turned around, grinning his fanged grin, "You don't know how damn glad I am to hear that..." he reached over and hugged Nuriko, who held onto him tightly.  
  
Nuriko wasn't sure when he realized it. Well, he only realized it just before he said it, but how long he'd felt it was another story. Looking back on the past few weeks, he wondered why he didn't realize it earlier. He was always seeking Tasuki out... He was always the one he wanted to talk to, wanted to be with.  
  
That night, due to the lack of a town, they were forced to spend yet another night in their tents. Nuriko had just been putting out the fire and was about to head into his and Tasuki's designated tent. He crawled in. Tasuki was already in there and had laid their blankets.  
Tasuki grinned his lopsided grin, "You know... I think this whole sharing a tent thing isn't so bad after all..." he said enticingly.  
Nuriko stifled a grin, but was unable to stifle a laugh as Tasuki suddenly pulled Nuriko close to him.  
"You know, Nuriko..." Tasuki started lazily, "I still don't believe that you're a guy."  
"What?" Nuriko looked at the other seishi quite seriously, "You mean after all that happened yesterday you don't believe me?"  
"I'm afraid not," a suggestive grin spread over Tasuki's face, "I think you're going to have to give me some proof..."  
The purple-haired seishi blushed a little. "Tasuki!" he said with mock disapproval.  
"Hey I got an idea."  
Nuriko was almost afraid to ask what it was, fearing that it would have something to do with 'proof.'  
"I don't know where the hell we are... But I'm sure there's a village somewhere around here..." he started to explain, leaning on his side, his head propped up on his elbow.  
"And your point?" Nuriko ducked down so that his face was close to Tasuki's.  
"I was thinking we could ditch these people and go off on our own."  
Nuriko thought for a moment before answering, "Alright..."  
Tasuki laughed, "Let's go..." he grabbed Nuriko by the hand and pulled him out of their tent.  
"Tasuki, are you sure? What about Miaka? We have to protect her... What if she needs us?"  
"She found us once... She can find us again." Tasuki grinned, pulling Nuriko off into the shadows. And so Nuriko ran off with Tasuki. 


	12. chapt0r 12

Erm. Obviously FY isn't mine. Thank you for reading this far :D it makes me so happy! teehee.  
  
It had been a few days since their return to the palace. Nuriko stretched out lazily on his bed, his hands resting under his head as he lay on his back. He was starting to regret the fact that he and Tasuki had a stroke of conscience just two days after they had run off. So they returned, actually beating the others back by about a day.  
They had managed fine without the two of them. After all, they had found the last seishi: a cute boy a few years younger than Nuriko. He had shaggy light brown hair and was seemingly always playing that stupid flute of his. Nuriko paused his thoughts, momentarily wondering if Chiriko was playing it at the moment. A breeze blew through the window, blowing in the faint sound of a flute melody. Nuriko closed his eyes, nodding. Figures.  
He vaguely wondered how Tasuki was doing. He, Chichiri, and Miaka had gone to Kutou to bring Tamahome back. He yawned before sitting up and looking out the window. Dark already. He stood up, heading out his door, no particular destination in mind. He strolled casually down the outdoor halls of the palace. He stopped, thinking that he had seen someone. He squinted, trying to see who it was sitting in the dark garden. He inquisitively strolled up to them, only a few feet away from the shadowy figure before they turned around.  
"Nuriko...?" Hotohori turned around upon hearing footsteps behind him, seeing Nuriko's thin figure outlined by the light from a window. He seemed sad.  
Nuriko silently screamed as Hotohori's perfect face came into light. He hadn't been alone with him since before he had found out about him and Miaka.  
"Uh... Yes, heika-sama. I'm sorry to disturb you. I just wasn't sure who it was sitting out here... Um. I'll go." He turned to leave, not wanting talk to the emperor.  
"Wait," he called out weakly. Nuriko turned, rooted to the spot.  
"Yes...?" Nuriko raised his thin eyebrows a little. Please don't let him say that he wants to talk...  
"It's just... We haven't really gotten to talk since... well..." he trailed off. In his head, Nuriko streamed off curse words, stopping to think how he should stop listening to Tasuki talk so much, as it seemed to be wearing off onto him.  
"Yeah..." Nuriko shuffled his feet, still silently cursing as he uneasily looked around into the dark shadows.  
"I wanted to apologize. For everything. The way I acted was foolish and juvenile," he said all this like he had been rehearsing it... "I'm very sorry for everything that happened while we were away," he paused. "Well... I'm sorry for the things that happened between Miaka and I... I'm not sorry at all for the things that went on between the two of us..."  
Nuriko tried to remember what it was like kissing him, but found that the thought of it seemed rather absurd now. It didn't seem right for him to be with Hotohori-sama.  
"I don't know what I was thinking... I really and truly love you, and I'm not just saying that. Why would I just say it? If I was just looking for blind love I could just go visit the harem. Anyhow, I don't know why I acted the way I did. I suppose it was just... I don't know. Have you ever done anything like that? Where you know you don't want to... and you don't have a reason... but you do it anyway? I know there's no forgiving my actions, but please... Could you try...? For my poor heart's sake..."  
Nuriko's eyebrows sunk low. Was Hotohori begging to have him back? Because it sure sounded an awful lot like he was... "Hotohori-sama..." Nuriko didn't know what to say, so he just shook his head, quite unimpressed by Hotohori's confession.  
"Please..."  
"Hotohori-sama... I know that I shouldn't be saying this... as you're the emperor as well as a Suzaku seishi. But I don't trust you... and I believe I have reason not to. My heart is not something to be taken lightly," he tried to suppress the anger that was growing inside him, thinking that it wasn't exactly smart to get any kind of attitude with the emperor, even if he was a backstabbing bastard. "And you... well," he made a tutting noise, narrowing his eyes.  
"Please... I know..." he cut him off, his voice shaking strangely, "I... and I'm genuinely sorry for doing so. I will do anything at all in order to win you back. Anything."  
Nuriko became more nervous and angry as he examined the situation. The emperor was begging for forgiveness. The emperor. Emperors don't beg. "Nothing you can do would even make me consider. I don't care what you-"  
"Is it..." Hotohori wondered if it would be appropriate to assume, "Is it because of Tasuki...?"  
The purple-haired seishi sighed irritably. "No. Well, yes. Unlike you, I would rather die than break the trust of someone I care about." Hotohori nodded weakly, "But...even if Tasuki and I weren't... I still..." he looked bitterly down to the ground, "I still don't trust you to not mess with me."  
Hotohori nodded gloomily. He was being very sincere in his apology to Nuriko. He really and truly didn't know what possessed him to act the way he did. He had been thinking about it after Nuriko and Tasuki had run off... He came to the conclusion that it was wrong to want Miaka's affections, for many reasons. For one, there was Tamahome. He and Miaka were so thoroughly in love with each other that she had never cast the much- more-handsome emperor a second glance. Another thing was that well... he really didn't care for Miaka. He cared for the Suzaku no Miko... the young woman from his childhood dreams who would take him away to a place where he could live carefree in complete bliss. Miaka was not this person. This realization left him with a vast feeling of emptiness and disappointment. His dreams, his thoughts, his whole life was empty and disappointing. And now the one person who had ever made him genuinely happy despised him. He sighed. Maybe if he could let Nuriko somehow know how deeply he loved him... But how could he get the gentle seishi to believe him? He thought that if he were Nuriko, he wouldn't believe himself either. "I'm sorry, Hotohori-sama." Nuriko sounded scandalized.  
"Sorry..." Hotohori repeated, nodding slightly, thinking what a lowly life he led. Of course he was beautiful. He was the emperor... but. But he never wanted that. He hated it. It had taken his life away from him. Here he was, more a boy rather than a man and yet he had been forced to act like a grown man from the time he could first speak. He could never be himself; he was always forced to live some kind of charade, hiding behind his good looks and expensive clothes. He had never had any friends growing up, and had never spoken his heart to anyone until he had met these seishi. His only friends... His only friends and most of them hated him now... and it was all his fault. Perhaps it was just his fate. Perhaps he was never meant to be happy. He felt burning tears silently spill out of his unblinking eyes.  
"Hotohori-sama... I'm going back to my room now..." Nuriko did not see the tears fall down the emperor's face. He took a few steps backwards, not walking away just yet in case the emperor wanted to say anything else. He said nothing, so Nuriko turned and walked back down the hall he came from.  
Hotohori nodded slowly as Nuriko's footsteps trailed off, his eyes wide and fixed on a random point in the blackness. He had nothing. He was truly in a horrible position. Not for the first time, he contemplated what the state of the kingdom would be were he to be found dead. His advisors would send the maids to look for him after an hour or so of him being late to the usual morning meeting. Nobody would know why the young, beautiful emperor was dead. Surely there would be a war with Kutou over it, as people would assume that the enemy country had murdered the emperor. He closed his eyes, steady, hot tears flowing from them. War over such a worthless soul. It was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard in his life...  
He let out a ragged gasp, unable to hold in the sobs any longer. A slight breeze blew, sending some of his soft brown hair flying into his face. He slowly lifted a shaking hand to put it back in place, standing up and shuffling to his room in the process. He wondered if he would feel this way even if Nuriko had not rejected him. He concluded that yes, he would. Nuriko was not the cause of this... this had been building. Nuriko was just the one to bring it to light. To show the emperor what a horrible person he really was. How undeserving of the love that he didn't receive anyway. He sighed, stepping into his large, grand room, not even bothering to take off his shoes. He plopped down on his tall, soft bed. It was never going to get any better. Let them wage war if they must...  
  
Nuriko went back in his room, closing the door behind him. The little 'talk' with Hotohori had left him in a thoroughly bad mood. Why was he begging for him now? If he loved him so much then why didn't he just stick with it in the first place? Nuriko's thoughts wandered as he undressed, putting on his nightclothes.  
He climbed onto his bed slowly, kneeling there for a moment before lying down. He leaned his head back as he undid his long braid, causing an ocean of waist-length silky violet hair to fall behind him. He frowned as he noticed the crimps in it from having it in a braid so long.  
Nuriko got back out of bed, going to see what his hair looked like in the mirror. He studied himself for a moment before deciding that the loose crimps didn't look so bad. He pulled the mass of thick hair over one shoulder, reaching down to get his brush. He sat there, gazing at himself in the mirror, running the brush through his thick hair. After a while, a small grin flickered over his face. He really was the prettiest girl here, even when his normally milky skin was darkened from being out in the sun so long. He studied himself for a minute more before deciding that he looked better with a tan anyway. He thought how he looked much better now that his face wasn't ghostly pale. Although it had made his eyes stand out more when their long lashes and painted lids were a sharp contrast to the white flesh.  
He rolled his eyes a little, scolding himself slightly for spending so much time contemplating his appearance. He hesitantly turned away from the mirror, stealing one last look at himself before going back to bed.  
He sat down, but then quickly got back up. Since he was in a bit of a better mood now, he wanted to go apologize to Hotohori for being so short with him. He could have turned down his apology a little more gently...  
Nuriko grabbed his robe and held it closed tightly with one hand, so that people wouldn't notice that he had on his bedclothes. He slipped his shoes back on and slowly walked out the door, his heart beating faster as he realized that he didn't know exactly what he was going to say. He was getting more nervous by the second. 


	13. chapter 13

Er. I was in a bad mood when I wrote this :-\. Surely you can't tell. FY isn't miiinee. Curses! Please review! Even if its flames... teehee.  
  
He finally reached the emperor's chamber, drumming on the door politely.  
No answer.  
He knocked again, this time a little more loudly.  
No answer.  
He carefully touched the ornate handle on the door. It wasn't locked, so he pushed the door open ever so slightly. Nuriko didn't see anyone in the small section of the room that was now visible, so he stepped in shyly. Still, no one was to be seen. Hotohori must still be sitting in the garden.  
  
Nuriko turned to go, leaving the door open carelessly.  
The seishi had only gotten a few feet away before he heard a loud THUD coming from Hotohori's room. He turned around quickly, going back to see what had made the noise.  
He stuck his head back in the room, but still saw no one, nor did he see any object on the floor that might have fallen. He went inside, looking around to see what had caused the noise. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. Nuriko was just about to leave, dismissing the thud as his imagination, when he noticed a door standing slightly ajar. It must have led to some kind of side-room. Nuriko meekly opened the door further, letting out a small cry in alarm, jumping back slightly.  
Inside the room, a small sitting room containing a few chairs, a table, and books, Hotohori looked up at Nuriko from where he kneeled on the floor, his eyes glassy and red blood smeared on his forehead and cheek.  
"Hotohori-sama!" Nuriko's eyes flew wide as he stood frozen to the spot.  
Hotohori looked down, seemingly noticing for the first time the blood that soaked his thin white shirt. The blood was pouring darkly from several places on the emperor's chest and stomach, and was dripping slowly from cuts all down his arms. He clutched the dagger that was lodged in his stomach, pulling it out stiffly, his face screwing up in pain as he let out a gurgling gasp. Nuriko let out a strangled kind of noise, unable to do anything else. He lost his balance and staggered toward the doorframe, clutching it for support. He couldn't believe this.  
Hotohori paid Nuriko no mind as he stared at the knife he held shakily in his hand. He simply stared at it for a few seconds before clenching his eyes shut and suddenly jabbing it forcefully back into his chest. He let out another ragged gasp in pain, staring eerily straight ahead of him, wide eyes unblinking.  
"No!" Nuriko ran over to him, suddenly realizing what was going on. He hastily sat down beside the bloody emperor, his robe becoming soaked in the massive amounts of blood pooled on the floor. He stared at Hotohori for a split second before reaching over with violently trembling hands to where the handle of the dagger was sticking out of Hotohori's bloodstained shirt. Nuriko pulled it out slowly, his chin shaking involuntarily. Why had Hotohori done this? He threw the knife across the small room, spattering blood around where it landed with a clank.  
Hotohori still kneeled there, staring at the floor now.  
"Hotohori-sama..." Nuriko's voice cracked as he started breathing hard, "Lay down..." The emperor absently leaned back into Nuriko's supporting arms. Nuriko situated him gently so that Hotohori's head was propped in his lap.  
He started unfastening Hotohori's wet shirt with wildly shaking fingers. Nuriko pulled it away from his chest delicately, cringing as blood dripped out of the soaking shirt. Hotohori's muscular chest was covered in smeared bright red blood, four or five deep stab wounds exuding more dark red blood. His wrists were covered in many shallow cuts, not really bleeding much, but still managing to look very painful.  
Nuriko studied him for a moment before letting out a single choked sob. He looked around the room, searching for something to help him not be so completely terrified.  
"Lay still, Hotohori-sama... for just a minute," Nuriko blurted out as he set Hotohori's head down softly on the damp floor. Nuriko stood up.  
He was about to take a step before running at top speed to get Mitsukake, when Hotohori's hand, wet with blood, feebly grasped Nuriko's ankle to stop him. Nuriko flew back around.  
"Don't," Hotohori said softly, as if he could have spoken it more firmly had he the will. Nuriko let his tears of panic fall from his eyes, "But you'll die...!" he sobbed, "Why did you do this?!"  
Hotohori said nothing.  
"Why?!" Nuriko screamed, suddenly growing silent, "It wasn't because of..."  
"No..." Hotohori stared up at the ceiling. "Why did you come here...?"  
"To see you! Because I care about you!"  
Hotohori frowned slightly as he rested his hand on top of his freely bleeding stomach. He shook his head a little.  
"It's true! Hotohori-sama you can't die! You're the emperor! The people need you!"  
"No they don't... I've been a horrible emperor..."  
"I need you! What about me? And all the rest of us? We won't be able to summon Suzaku if you die!"  
Hotohori was silent.  
"I'm going to get Mitsukake..." Nuriko stood up again, noticing that his white robe was now mostly red. He wiped his eyes as he ran out the door, adding to his macabre look by smearing the blood that was on his hands onto his face. He turned the corner. He rounded the corner, almost to Mitsukake's room. That's when he felt it.  
  
Mitsukake woke with a start. He sat up in his bed, staring off into the darkness of his room. He blinked, wondering what it was that had woken him up. Nuriko suddenly bound into his room, knocking the door off its hinges as he did.  
"Mitsukake! Wake up!" he screamed violently. Nuriko tried to ignore what he knew. Hotohori had already died.  
The boring man looked at Nuriko's shadowy form, "It's no use," he knew precisely what had happened. Well, not precisely. He just knew that Hotohori was no longer alive. He could feel it. Nuriko crumbled to the floor, staring straight ahead, his long hair surrounding him, some of it clumped together from the drying blood that was in it.  
  
Tasuki twitched. "Damn it! The hell was that?" He looked to Chichiri for an answer.  
The monk took off his mask, murmuring in a low tone, "Hotohori- sama... Something's happened to heika-sama no da..."  
"What?! I thought the bastard was safe in Kounan!"  
"I don't know no da..."  
"I guess we'll find out when we get back?" Tasuki said, turning away and walking toward the Kutou palace.  
"Right no da... We have to get Miaka-chan back no da..." he followed after the bandit. ( Chichiri isn't gay! And if he were, he wouldn't be with Tasuki! hehe)  
  
Tamahome looked up. It felt as though he had suddenly been snapped out of a trance. Little did he know, that yes! He had! He wondered what the shuddering feeling that crawled over him was. Somehow he knew that something had happened to someone... but who? The young man ran his hands through his hair to make sure it was still silky smooth, pulling off the headband that he was wearing. He was utterly shocked to find that he was wearing a headband, as he thoroughly detested the things. Agh! What was this?? An earring? He pulled it off and threw it on the floor and stomped it thoroughly. In his opinion, earrings were for girls and homosexuals. And even if he DID wear earrings, he would at least have picked out some that matched his eyes. He jumped in shock as he looked down and noticed the clothes he was wearing. Monochrome outfits? Random earrings?? Headbands??? There was obviously a very serious evil plot going on here. The dark haired boy shook his head, eyes perking up as he remembered his promise to meet Miaka. He glanced out the window, cursing as he realized that he was late. He bolted out the door. About three seconds later, he stormed back in hastily pausing in front of the mirror. Fluffing his hair up with one fluid motion, he winked at his reflection and made a snapping- pointing-nodding gesture before once more running out the door.  
  
Nuriko slowly opened his eyes, pulling the covers back over his face to block out the bright light that shone in from the window. After taking a few moments to wake up, he pulled the blankets off of himself, getting up slowly to get dressed, dragging his feet. He wasn't too sure how he wound up in his own bed, as the last thing he remembered from last night was being in Mitsukake's room. He decided that he liked talking to Mitsukake. He was such a good listener. Sure, his attention seemed to be more focused on his toes than on what Nuriko was saying, but that was alright... it just felt good to get it out. He told Mitsukake all about what happened with Hotohori... the whole story, starting from way back when he first came to the harem and instantly fell in love with him. After hearing Nuriko's ramblings for hours, Mitsukake finally spoke up, telling Nuriko how he didn't think that what Hotohori did was his fault. He said it in such a way that Nuriko had to believe him. Man, Mitsukake didn't talk often, but when he did, he made his point. Nuriko jumped a little as he saw himself in the mirror. Dry, brownish blood was smeared in excess on his face.  
Nuriko vividly remembered last night, slightly surprised at how much blood one body could hold, and how it could all spill out, soaking everything in sight. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to banish those thoughts. He picked up a washcloth, dipping it in the bowl of water that was on his dresser, a deafening silence making every sound seem punctuated. Carefully, Nuriko wiped off the blood, which didn't come off as easy as he thought it would. He sighed. He was covered head to toe in dried blood. Nuriko purposefully emptied his head of all thought as he set to work washing the blood off with trembling hands before putting his clothes on.  
  
------------------------------ I don't know where the Tamahome thing came from... XD mwahaha! It amuses me to no end though... Erm. Sorry for the random killing off of Hotohori x.x;;; I was pissed at him for two timing my Nuriko... or something... teehee. It's ok. You like it. 


	14. chapt4r 14

Hooha! Yay! This is fun! Send reviews! Reviews! REVIEWS! Mwahaha! Blah blah I don't own FY.  
  
"Uh... Nuriko-san?" came Chiriko's nervous voice. Nuriko looked up from where he was sitting. It was the same place Hotohori had been sitting in the garden the night before, only this time it was brilliant daylight.  
Nuriko looked to the boy, slightly raising his eyebrows in a 'what?'  
"Um..." he held his head down, "I just heard it from one of the maids... that Hotohori-sama was dead..." his voice was hushed, eyes downcast.  
"Yeah..." his nod was barely noticeable. "But... how come you're just now finding out...? Couldn't you feel it when it happened?"  
"Feel it?"  
"Mitsukake and I both could sense Hotohori's life being cut off... I guessed it was a seishi thing. Didn't you feel it?"  
"Oh...! Um... That! I sure did! Whoa! So THAT'S what that was," Nuriko gave him a slightly disgusted look at his enthusiasm, "Er... how was he killed?"  
"He... killed himself."  
Chiriko's eyes went wide as he kind of jerked in surprise. "Why?!"  
"I don't know..." it felt like he was telling a lie to the younger boy, but... he wasn't. He really didn't know why Hotohori had felt the need to take his own life. Nuriko heaved a sigh, banishing all thoughts of the emperor from his mind. He couldn't bear the pain of thinking of him right now... Nuriko stood up just as Chiriko struck up a low, pensive melody on his wooden flute. Nuriko snatched the flute out of his grasp as he walked by, throwing it down in Chiriko's lap. Chiriko looked up at him, obviously wondering why he had done that.  
"Couldn't you just this once give that thing a rest?" Nuriko hissed irritably.  
"...Sorry..." Chiriko fidgeted the round wooden instrument in his hands near his lap. Nuriko walked off, ignoring the many mourners that filled the palace. He had no idea where he wanted to go, so he just shuffled along aimlessly through endless corridors. Suddenly, amidst all the sorrow and grief, he heard a cheerful voice shout out, readily identifiable as Miaka's. He went off in the direction of the voice, glad that Miaka, Chichiri, and Tasuki were back. He wondered if they had gotten Tamahome back and if they had heard about Hotohori.  
"Nuriko!!!!1" Miaka suddenly bound down the hall at him, seemingly appearing in front of him from out of nowhere. Nuriko was somewhat taken aback as she jumped nearly on top of him in a sloppy embrace. "How have you been????" she was smiling from ear to ear.  
"You've only been gone overnight... I'm fine..." he wondered if she even knew about Hotohori. Nuriko looked down at his feet.  
"We got that guy I like back!!!!1"  
He gave a small nod. "Good..."  
Just then, Tamahome's quieted voice called out, "Miaka... come here?" he offered shyly, putting something that looked suspiciously like a mirror back into his pocket. Miaka instantly released the purple-haired seishi, bounding over to her long-absent love. She called over her shoulder cheerily, "See you later, Nuriko!!!!" Nuriko lifted his cheeks I a pitiful attempt at a smile, waving half-heartedly. Just then, he saw Tasuki's figure stroll out from where Tamahome's had.  
Nuriko felt a harsh pang of guilt. He turned around to go to his room, where he promptly stayed for the next few days. For the longest time he just slept, not caring if it was night or day. When he couldn't sleep, he lay there, thinking...  
  
Finally, Nuriko decided to go for a short walk. He was starting to feel cramped inside his room. He returned to his room after a while, sliding open the door, taking off his shoes before he entered. He blinked as he looked over to his bed to see a weary-looking red-haired bandit sitting on it, head facing downward at his hands, but his eyes were looking up to meet his.  
"Tasuki..." he stated the obvious, "Why are you in here...?" Nuriko's usually edgy voice was soft and tired, despite the fact that it was not even noon yet.  
"I," Tasuki cast his eyes down, only letting them look back up every once in a while, "I wanted to talk to you... I haven't seen you since I go back from Kutou..." he grinned a little, but only for a split second. His smile faded into a frown as he saw Nuriko's empty expression. "Hotohori... Chiriko told me you were taking it hard... It wasn't your damn fault..." Nuriko looked over to him, meandering toward him and finally sitting on the bed next the bandit, only giving the floor a very blank stare in response.  
"The damn bastard deserved it."  
Nuriko shot him a fiery glare, speaking sternly, though his voice was still soft, "He was not. And... it was my fault..."  
"The hell it was. And I didn't mean it about him being a bastard."  
He sighed. "He did it just after I had talked to him."  
"What? Yeah, so? That doesn't make it your fault."  
"He was telling me how much he loved me... and how he was sorry for acting the way he did... I think he must have really meant it... But I kind of told him off and left without giving him a chance... I was going to his room to apologize to him when I found him... you know..." Nuriko felt his chin shudder, immediately trying to suppress the feeling.  
"Shit..." Tasuki stared off for a second before nodding a little, this time when he spoke, his voice was somewhat gentler, "Still wasn't your fault. I mean, I knew the guy and he wasn't the type to be so spur of the moment..."  
Nuriko nodded, not sure if he believed what Tasuki said or not.  
"But shit, though... I didn't like the guy, but I didn't want him fucking dead... I woulda treated him better if I knew he was gonna kill himself like that..." he quickly saw the tears building in Nuriko's beautiful eyes and took that as a sign to change the subject. "Damn, that Tamahome guy thinks he's pretty hot stuff, don't he?" Nuriko gave a small, half laugh, still apparently incredibly interested in the floor.  
"I mean he shows up all 'Miaka! I never thought I'd see your fucking beautiful face ever again! I missed you sooo damn much!'" Tasuki said in a sickeningly sweet tone. Nuriko had to laugh at Tasuki's interpretation of the other seishi. Tasuki grinned. "God! Is he BLIND? How can he actually LIKE that brown pig? She's the god damn ugliest thing I've ever seen! And yet that freak is ALL OVER HER." Tasuki all but screamed in disbelief. Nuriko laughed at how much he hated Miaka for... apparently no reason whatsoever, and how he had no problem with telling the world how awful she was. Tasuki was just too much sometimes. Nuriko smiled. Tasuki always found some weird, unexpected way to make him feel better.  
"Damn," Tasuki sighed, shaking his head dramatically as he sat back down, setting his hand down lightly on top of Nuriko's. Tasuki looked into his eyes, the sudden change of mood in them quite obvious.  
Nuriko felt a twinge of guilt, looking away from Tasuki's enticing gaze.  
"God, Nuriko..." Tasuki squeezed the seishi's hand slightly, "You don't have to make yourself miserable over him... He wouldn't have wanted it or something." Tasuki thought to himself that this wasn't true, judging from the stunts he pulled with Miaka, but alas, he said nothing to Nuriko of this.  
"I know but... He's dead. I'll never see him again. It's not like I can just say 'He's dead, big deal' and go on like normal..."  
"No one's asking you to," he searched for the right words. "I've had some people I was close to die... and... hell, I'm fine. Life goes on. It's no use moping over him, cause that doesn't get you anywhere. If you died tomorrow, would you want me to stop my whole life?"  
Nuriko bit his lip slightly. "No... But you don't have to worry, because I don't plan on dying anytime soon," he smiled a little, squeezing Tasuki's hand, "I guess you're right... But... if I did die, what would you do?"  
"Bring you the hell back! That's what I'd do!" Nuriko laughed, leaning against Tasuki's shoulder. "So what have you been doing these past few days...?"  
"Shit..." Tasuki strained his memory, contorting his face in thought. "Dunno. Just stuff. Hanging around with Chiriko mostly. He's one nervous kid... doesn't much like to talk about seishi stuff. But once you talk to him and give him a lot to drink he's not half bad."  
"You got him drunk?? He's barely fifteen!"  
Tasuki ignored Nuriko's protest. "I dunno about his whole brother obsession, though. When he's drunk he's always rambling on about how much he loooooves his little twin brother and how he could hardly go to sleep at night without his damn brother there to cuddle with," he twitched, "Fucking disgusting if you ask me... But anyway, I've basically been sitting around thinking about you..."  
Nuriko blinked at Tasuki several times. "What?"  
He returned the question with a grin, shaking his head, "Nothing." He raised his eyes to meet Nuriko's, looking into them for a moment, as if searching for something. Finally, he gave a soft half-whisper, "God I love you..."  
Good Tasuki cheered, mumbling something about how love conquers all. Bad Tasuki went on his usual list of reasons why it was wrong to be in love with a guy. It wasn't really a list so much as a glorified way of cursing him out and calling him various bad names. Good Tasuki, as usual, strolled across Tasuki's shoulders and beat bad Tasuki unconscious while in a drunken rage.  
"Well go'n! Continuu!" good Tasuki exclaimed as he took bad Tasuki off into the other room.  
Nuriko leaned forward, embracing the bandit. They sat there for a while being sweet and grabby and stuff. Well, maybe not grabby, but snuggly and cute. Like kitties. (wtf...?)  
Tasuki suddenly pulled away, holding the other seishi's hands. "Nuriko... Since we can't summon Suzaku... Will you go back to Mount Leikaku with me?"  
"What?"  
"... You probably wouldn't like it there. You've been living here with all your fancy manners and nice everything... It's different back there from here... It doesn't really suit someone so beautiful like you..." Tasuki whispered, slowly drawing Nuriko close again, "But... I want you to come..."  
"I don't know..." Nuriko said, also in a whisper, "What are you saying?"  
"That I want to be with you for the rest of my life."  
Nuriko wasn't sure what to say. This was... rather unlike Tasuki, who was usually very spontaneous and inconsistent. All thoughts were abruptly halted as Tasuki leaned forward to kiss the other seishi. Tasuki reached up, clumsily untying the clasp on Nuriko's shirt type thing (SMUT! Shirt type thing lol... what other way can I describe it?? This is getting too skanky for me O.o). He stopped, opening his eyes for a brief second to see if Nuriko had any kind of objection to this.  
Nuriko hastily pulled away from his embrace.  
"Tasuki..." his eyes were slightly wide as looked around, half- whispering.  
"Mm...?"  
"I'm not sure if we should... uh... I mean..." he trailed off. "I mean... I haven't done this before... This... I've never done anything before. I've never even taken off my shirt in front of anyone! I'm just not sure..."  
Tasuki gave a fanged grin, "You seemed pretty sure at the inn after we ran off together..."  
"Tasuki," Nuriko gave him a slightly dirty, confused look, "We didn't do anything at the inn... We never got within two feet of each other the whole time!" he laughed a little.  
"Yeah I know, but still. You seemed sure then. Don't remember what you were sure of, though... Oh well," he said, scratching his head. Nuriko couldn't help but laugh more. Tasuki grinned more, "But I do have one thing to say..." he waited until Nuriko looked at him expectantly before announcing, "I've never wanted anything as bad as I want you..."  
Nuriko blushed furiously, suddenly feeling very awkward.  
Tasuki nodded. "What was it you weren't sure about, though?"  
A smile flickered across Nuriko's face, "I forgot." "Good," Tasuki leaned over to kiss that other guy passionately. (note! There's nothing baaad going on! Let's just say that the little batter-guy in the crappy nintendo game had just hit the ball and was running past first base when he suddenly got struck by lightening and the nintendo was never able to walk again... and some random nameless hot guy with foofy red hair comes up and knifes it... um yeah... . if that makes any sense... i dunno. i'm just weird. Actually. That would suck. I really liked that game. Like id play it every day when I was little. Um. But I digress. The point is that the smut shall never get too smutty x.x)  
  
They were all together when Taiitsukun appeared a few weeks later, her visage eliciting a shriek from Tamahome. Everyone else just kinda twitched a little. "T...Taiitsukun no da!" Chichiri stated, not really scared of her face, but more just shocked from her sudden appearance. "Yes. I have something to tell you all. As you know, you cannot perform the ceremony to summon Suzaku without all seven seishi present," a grumble and nod came as response. Tamahome mumbled something about 'thank you oh-great- stater-of-the-obvious', "However, you can still summon Suzaku." "What??" said the collective seishi and miko.  
"Yes. Go to Hokkan to get the Shinzaho. You can use it to summon Suzaku."  
"Hokkan. Shinzaho. Got it."  
"Yes. I have items that will be helpful to you in your journey to retrieve the Shinzaho. They will enhance your magical abilities."  
Instantly, each seishi had something appear in front of them. Mitsukake (let's mention him first for once...) got some healing water, so that he could use his power more than once a day. Tasuki's tessen turned into a super-special tessen. Nuriko got pretty bracelets ^-^. Chichiri got magical nifty feathers on his prayer necklace. Tamahome got nothing. Chiriko got a silver flute.  
"Wow! Thanks!" was the general response.  
"Why didn't I get anything??" Tamahome demanded.  
"Because I hate you." Taiitsukun said flatly.  
Tamahome sighed.  
Taiitsukun laughed heartily, "I just made you my bitch!"  
Tamahome mourned for a little while before he started trying to take the other seishi's gifts.  
"Ahem. You still need to find the remaining seishi before you go to Hokkan. So far you have only found six," Taiitsukun stated.  
"But... there's only six because Hotohori isn't here..." Miaka said. "No. You have only found six. That includes Hotohori. So, more precisely, there are only five seishi present." Everyone looked around, counting the seishi. All came up with the number six, except for Miaka, who somehow got 37.  
"One of you is a fake," (start ending theme).  
"A fake????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!//////111" gasped Miaka, bringing her hand to her mouth in disbelief.  
"Yes."  
"Who is it?" Nuriko demanded.  
"I'm Chiriko... heheh... heh..." Chiriko (from here on, he's Amiboshi, cause I hate referring to him as Chiriko... it makes me think of people riding around in Mitsukake's pants. Erm. Yeah.) said nervously.  
"I bet its Mitsukake!!!" Tamahome yelled, pointing at the tall, boring seishi.  
"Yeah!!" Tasuki agreed enthusiastically.  
"......YEAH!"  
Everyone turned and looked at Amiboshi because of his late reply. He merely laughed nervously and pointed to himself. "Chiriko..."  
"You're right, though0!!!!!111" Miaka observed, "He's always so boring and suspicious!!111111 He never talks!!1111111!1 He HAS to be bad!"  
"I do too talk," Mitsukake said, causing the rest of the people in the room to gasp in surprise.  
"Wow... So I guess it's not him..."  
"Then who is it??"  
Taiitsukun made her presence known once more, "You will all find out in time. Isn't that right... Chiriko?"  
"Haha! ...Yeah! ...We'll find that stupid... guy... and uh... and we'll... um. I'LL SCRAMBLE HIS BRAINS!!"  
All the seishi cheered in agreement, never suspecting Amiboshi for even a second. Taiitsukun vanished suddenly. Everyone in the room was silent for a moment.  
".....So... That was fun... hehe..." came a nervous Amiboshi after a few minutes of everyone standing there staring at Mitsukake, hoping he would talk again.  
  
----------- wow. I heart Amiboshi :D 


	15. chapter 15!

Let's go to Otsu :O erm. I mean. FY isn't mine. Yarrr. Review meeee  
  
It was a few weeks later before they were about to board the ship to set sail for Hokkan, the country to the north. It had taken several of the palace's strongest guards to get Tasuki on the ship. For the longest time, Tasuki had just stood nervously about fifty feet away from the pier, too petrified of the vast amounts of water to do anything else but hide. Of course, Tamahome had found out about Tasuki's phobia and took great pleasure in picking up the stiff, paralyzed bandit and trying to dump him into the water. Tasuki's frightened yells and threats to Tamahome as they stood struggling by the water's edge never failed to elicit a laugh from all.  
So, they set sail for the north, the journey rather boring and uneventful, aside from the occasional practical joke pulled on Tamahome by Tasuki. Nuriko couldn't tell if the two were good friends or if they just plain enjoyed pestering each other. The world would never know... Either way, it was still thoroughly amusing to watch them together in the same room. It always ended up in silly insults and a fistfight. The purple- haired seishi laughed a little as he saw them fighting. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he figured it didn't really matter. Ah. Nuriko grinned as Tamahome suddenly shouted and lifted the bandit up, dangling him over the railing, Tasuki wailing. He had never seen him act that way about anything before... it was rather amusing.  
He saw Chichiri sitting on the edge, peacefully looking out over the waves. Nuriko walked up to him, the monk being the only one other than himself seemingly capable of intelligent conversation. Tasuki was usually pestering Tamahome. When he wasn't around Tamahome, he was great to be around. Chiriko had taken to walking around laughing nervously, repeatedly stating in a shaky tone that he was, in fact, Chiriko. Strange boy. Miaka, of course was never capable of any intelligent conversation. Mitsukake was just too boring to talk to. So he strolled over to Chichiri, sitting down beside him.  
"Good afternoon no da," Chichiri smiled through his mask, which was always smiling, so Nuriko couldn't tell if the daa-ing monk was actually smiling or not...  
"Afternoon," Nuriko smiled good-naturedly, sitting down beside Chichiri, "What are you doing?" "Just looking at the water no da."  
"Ah..." the only thing about talking to Chichiri was that he usually wasn't one to initiate conversation unless there was anything in particular to be discussed. "So... I think we're having a fairly good trip, don't you?"  
A nod. "I really hope we can get the Shinzaho as soon as we get there..."  
A nod.  
"I've heard that Hokkan is very cold this time of year..."  
A nod.  
"Am I bothering you? Because you're not saying anything..." Nuriko prepared to get up and leave the monk to his thinking.  
"You're not no da. I was just thinking," he lifted his hand to his face to take off his smiling mask, "about which one was the imposter seishi no da," he turned to look straight at Nuriko. He looked quite accusing, his eyebrows sloped, as he looked at him through his one eye, his large scar covering almost half his face.  
"What? It's not me!"  
"I didn't say I thought it was no da..."  
"It has to be Mitsukake! He's just so... boring!"  
"I think its Chiriko no da. He's been acting really odd ever since Taiitsukun told us no da."  
Nuriko nodded, not fully believing him. Mitsukake was just so... suspicious.  
"Not to mention that one time when he was talking to me, he referred to his twin brother, Suboshi, no da."  
"So?"  
"Suboshi is the name of a constellation of Seiryuu no da."  
"Oh..." Nuriko nodded slowly, "What, so you think he's a Seiryuu?"  
Chichiri nodded.  
"Then why hasn't he done anything bad? I mean those Seiryuu people are pretty violent from what I've heard... And Chiriko's a nice kid...And Mitsukake's always so weird..."  
"You're right no da... Even if he is a Seiryuu, he seems nice enough."  
"Oh well... I guess we should try to find out for sure before we get the Shinzaho. He might try to take it from us if he really isn't on our side... But don't you think we should keep an eye on Mitsukake just in case?"  
Chichiri nodded once more.  
Nuriko silenced himself, staring out onto the blue ocean. A wave of sadness overtook him without warning. He wondered what would become of them after they summoned Suzaku... Obviously, Miaka and Tamahome would live together and start a family, depending on the fact that Suzaku allowed her to stay in this world, which was questionable.  
"Chichiri...?"  
The scarred monk turned slightly towards him.  
"What are you going to do after we summon Suzaku?"  
"I don't know no da..." he looked back out onto the waves, his tone free and low, "I haven't really thought about it no da. I suppose I'll just continue traveling no da..."  
Nuriko nodded. So Chichiri would leave after the summoning... Mitsukake would probably move to some town and resume treating patients as a doctor. Chiriko would go back to his brother. Tasuki would go back to Mount Leikaku. He furrowed his brow slightly. Where would he go? He couldn't very well stay at the palace living as a member of the harem... Something had changed. It just didn't seem right for him to live his life behind a mask of makeup, long hair, and elaborate dresses anymore. He had changed, somehow, and was just for the first time realizing that the change had taken place. It had been so gradual, yet had happened in such a short amount of time. He could feel Kourin slipping away from him.  
He would not give her up. She had to live, she had to breathe, she had to feel. Nuriko felt the guilt overflow as he realized that he had not let Kourin live since he had met Miaka... He had been living only for himself, doing whatever he wanted while not even thinking about Kourin. His lip trembled.  
Stupid. You're not your sister. A rush of panic hit him like a bolt of sharp lightening, reaching into every part of his body. Why had he told himself that he wasn't Kourin? Wait. Why had he told herself that she wasn't Kourin...? No. He furrowed his brow. Why had she told... No... Why had... Nuriko but his lip. Why had... Still not right. Why... His breathing became shallow as his head started to pound.  
"Nuriko? Are you alright no da?"  
Nuriko stared off, jerking a little as a rush of pain seared through his head. "Yeah..." he muttered, standing up and staggering below deck, his whole body shaking and quivering.  
Pressing himself back against the door, he looked around fearfully and quickly, his breath fast and uneven. The trek down the stairs had exhausted him. He attempted to stop his mind from repeating, 'you're not your sister.' It said it over and over... he heard it, felt it endlessly. Pleading to his mind to stop saying it, he toppled over to his knees, then flat onto his face. His eyes clenched shut as one side of his face hit the floor.  
Who? Kourin is dead.  
Kourin is not dead. I'm Kourin.  
No you're not.  
I am.  
You're Ryuuen. You're just telling yourself you're Kourin.  
But... Everyone thinks I'm Kourin.  
No they don't. They used to.  
Was I Kourin then?  
No. You were Ryuuen then.  
No I wasn't. Who am I now then?  
...I don't know.  
So my life... no. Her life.  
Your life.  
What have I done? I'm not still Ryuuen. I killed him.  
Yeah... but you're still him.  
How can I be Ryuuen if he's dead?  
Maybe you're dead.  
But I'm not. Who are you then?  
...I used to be Ryuuen... but I killed him... Then I was Kourin...  
You were never Kourin.  
I let Kourin slip away. I was selfish.  
You were always selfish. Selfish and stupid. You ruined your life.  
I know... I want to be Ryuuen again...  
You can't. You killed him.  
When I was Kourin?  
That was when he died. If Ryuuen died... and I was never Kourin, then who was I all those years?  
...  
Well?  
...  
Tell me...  
"Nuriko?"  
Tell me!  
"Nuriko?" a hand jerked his limp shoulder, "Are you ok?"  
Answer me!  
"Nuriko..." the hand shook harder.  
"Answer me!" Nuriko shrieked rather frantically, causing Amiboshi to jump.  
"Um. Nuriko-san, this is Chiriko: Sei-um.. Suzaku seishi speaking. Are you ok?" his eyes were wide with concern as he clutched his flute protectively to his chest.  
Nuriko blinked for a moment, his mind racing. What just happened? When had Amiboshi come in here? "...Chiriko-"  
"That's me... I'm Chiriko...heheh..." Amiboshi scooted back a little.  
"Right..." Nuriko raised his eyebrows at him slightly, "Anyway, what did you want?"  
"Oh! Dinner is being served, and everyone else is waiting on us," he nodded, "So come on."  
"Sure... just hold on a second..." he ran over to his mirror, brushing the hair out of his face. He then flew out the door, calling over his shoulder for the younger seishi to come on.  
  
Nuriko smiled apologetically as he and Amiboshi stumbled late onto the deck. Everyone looked up at them.  
"Alright! We can eat!" Tasuki cheered.  
Both of them took their seats, and everyone started to eat. A few minutes passed in silence before Chichiri finally spoke up, in his usual chipper tone.  
"Nuriko-kun, how come you ran off this morning when we were talking no da?"  
"...Morning..." Nuriko became very confused as the fact that it was now dinner-time sunk in. What had happened to the rest of the day? Nuriko gave everyone at the table a puzzled look.  
The monk nodded. "Don't you remember no da? It was just before noon no da."  
Nuriko took note of the ebony sky that surrounded them. He furrowed his brow a bit. Had he really been in his room that long? Maybe he had fallen asleep or something... but... he could have sworn it was only a few minutes... "I... I got tired and decided to take a nap."  
"You ran off without saying a word because you were sleepy no da?" Nuriko could tell that Chichiri knew something wasn't right. He shrugged.  
"I was really tired. Really, really tired," Nuriko uneasily glanced around. "So, Tasuki-chan, has Tama-chan thrown you in yet?" he propped his chin in his hands, smiling.  
"Ahh hell no! And what's with all the 'chan'-ing? Don't Tasuki-chan me!"  
Nuriko laughed. "Are you just jealous because I called Tamahome 'Tama- chan'?" he loved to tease Tasuki. He was so silly and cute.  
"No!" Tasuki crossed his arms, sticking his chin up in a little pout.  
"Aww! Cute!"  
"Dammit, bandits aren't cute!" Tamahome piped up, "But you're SO cute, Tasuki-chan!" Obviously Tamahome enjoyed the fine art of Tasuki-teasing as much as Nuriko.  
"Shut up, Obake-chan!"  
"Hey! YOU shut up, flame boy!"  
"Hey!"  
Tasuki and Tamahome jumped up at the same time, each grabbing each other's shirt collars in a would-be threatening kind of way.  
"Can't an hour go by without those two trying to beat each other up?" Nuriko sighed before politely lifting a bit of meat jibblets to his mouth.  
"I was raised by a cup of coffee..." Miaka uttered, an amazing feat considering that her mouth was stuffed with food.  
"You two sit back down," Nuriko instructed. Both boys obeyed, casting each other dark glares as they sat down. The rest of the meal followed in uneventful conversation.  
  
Just after dinner, Nuriko was walking around the deck of the boat when he noticed Tasuki standing by himself. Although he was a good ten yards away from the railing, he was holding tightly onto a post for security. Nuriko sighed slightly, smiling. At least he had worked up the courage to stand out on the deck at all. The purple-haired seishi walked up to him silently.  
"How come you're not off somewhere fighting with Tamahome?"  
Tasuki jumped slightly as Nuriko's soft voice came from behind him. He turned quickly, arm still latched around the post. "Tamahome? Oh, he went to talk to Miaka," he shuddered, "Don't wanna be there for that one."  
Nuriko laughed a little, "Well I'm glad you've made such good friends with him..."  
"Friends?! The guy is always either trying to throw me in or beat me up!"  
"But you enjoy his company... otherwise you wouldn't provoke him so much, would you?"  
"What? No! He's the one provoking me!"  
"Just keep telling yourself that, Tasuki."  
"It's true!"  
Nuriko sighed a little, "You're always with him... I've hardly gotten a chance to spend any time with you since we set out..."  
"That's because he's always hunting me down!" he noticed the pouty expression on Nuriko's face, "It's not because I don't want to be with you! Hell, Nuriko... don't think I'm paying him more attention than I am you!"  
"Well you are, aren't you?"  
"HE HUNTS ME DOWN!!" he threw his hands up in the air.  
Stepping to the side a little, Nuriko laughed again, "Come on, Tasuki- chan," he gestured to the stairs that led below deck, "You'll be safer from Tamahome down here."  
"Alright... But only if you stop with the damned 'Tasuki-chan'-ing!"  
"Alright, Tasuki-chan," Nuriko grinned and vanished down the stairs.  
"Damn it!" he pouted for a moment before running after Nuriko.  
  
-A Seiryuu interlude- (just so people won't say 'what about them?')  
  
Nakago shut his eyes, blinking the sun out of them as he sat on a blanket near the lake. It was such a beautiful day. He vaguely wondered when Amiboshi would put his brilliant plan into action, but his thoughts were cut off as Soi came outside, kneeling down and handing Nakago one of the two lemonades she held.  
"Ooh that cloud looks like a bunny, Nakago-sama!" she squealed as she lay down on her back.  
"Yes," he replied in his ultra-macho deep voice. "Yes it does."  
  
------------- well that was fun :D 


	16. chapter 16

FY isn't mine. Let's go.  
  
"Ay."  
Nothing.  
"Oi."  
Still nothing.  
"Hey!"  
Still nothing.  
"Get up."  
Nothing.  
"Hey!"  
Again, nothing.  
"Heeyyy!" Tasuki prodded Nuriko in the side.  
Nuriko twitched a little, but kept laying on his side staring wide- eyed in front of him.  
"Nuriko, stop it! This isn't funny!" he shook the shoulders of the seemingly comatose seishi, "You're kinda freaking me out here..."  
Nuriko's eyes grew wider as they looked jerkily around the room.  
"Whoa! That's just damn freaky!" Tasuki jumped away before shaking him harder, "Hey!!"  
Nuriko jerked away during mid-shake, taking a gasp for air, "Tasuki! You scared me!"  
"I scared you?? You scared me! I fell asleep and I wake up to find you laying there all weird!"  
"What?"  
"You were laying there staring straight off! And I tried to get your attention, like shaking you and stuff, and you didn't notice!! It was fucking scary!"  
Nuriko blinked, "What?"  
"I told you!"  
"How come I didn't notice?"  
"Hell if I know!"  
"Huh..."  
Tasuki shook his head, "I was worried about you... What happened? What's going on...?" he looked to the purple-haired seishi concernedly.  
"I... I don't remember. All I remember is... is..." he scrunched up his face, thinking, "Being in here talking to you..."  
Tasuki shook his head again.  
"And then... you stopped talking... and I started thinking."  
"Bout what?"  
Nuriko furrowed his brow. What had he been thinking about? "...Kourin." He had to muster up every bit of strength in his lithe body to form the word.  
"Who-in?"  
"Kourin... my... my sister."  
"Shit! I didn't know you had a sister!"  
"...I don't talk about her." Nuriko's head was starting to pound painfully.  
"Don't blame you! Sisters are nasty, horrible things!"  
"No, no, no..." Nuriko frowned, shaking his head, "Not my sister... She was..." he thought a moment for the right word. He moved his mouth to say what she was, but nothing came out.  
Tasuki gave him a puzzled look.  
"Aww, come here..." Tasuki pulled Nuriko to him in a warm hug. "It's ok."  
Nuriko shook a little, overcome with emotion. He didn't like this feeling.  
He tried to push it away, as he always had before. Before, it had been so easy to live. Suddenly, now, just the thought of his sister made him mentally collapse... Maybe it was because before he hadn't really thought about it before... he had just kind of lived blankly without really thinking about anything. Now, it seemed like he was always thinking, and he didn't like it. He was thinking right now! In attempt to stop his train of thought, he raised his head from where it was buried on Tasuki's chest.  
"Hm?" was all Tasuki could get out before he found himself being kissed by Nuriko. Although a little surprised, he didn't have any complaints.  
A few seconds later, Nuriko jerked away suddenly, leaving a rather disappointed Tasuki to ask, "What's wrong?"  
"It's just... This isn't... This isn't what Kourin would have wanted..." "What do you mean?"  
"She always talked about how she wanted to grow up to marry the emperor... This... Us... It isn't right..."  
"What the hell?" Tasuki did his best to ignore the great bloody gash Nuriko had just ripped through his heart.  
Nuriko slouched a little, sighing. How could he tell this? "Me and my sister were really close... best friends..."  
"And that's preventing us from making out why? What the hell does that have do with anything?!" Tasuki protested, thoroughly confused.  
"Let me finish."  
"Alright, alright."  
Nuriko shot him a small glare. "See, we were as close as anyone could be... almost like twins." Tasuki thought he saw Nuriko's lips flicker into a brief smile. "We looked alike and everything. God, I loved her..." Any trace of a smile faded. "One day she was killed and... and I wouldn't accept it... So I... I started dressing like her and acting like her. So... So she could live."  
Tasuki looked at him like he was trying to solve a hard math problem.  
"My parents shipped me off to live with relatives, telling them that I was Kourin-"  
"That was a damn horrible thing to do! People not even wanting their own kid..."  
"Yeah, but anyway, I've been living as her for... let's see... I think it's been... nearly eight years..." Nuriko buried his face in his hands, "I wish I had died... I wish it every day... I feel so horrible. Since I met all you guys, I haven't done anything for Kourin... I'm keeping her from living... I'm killing her," Nuriko stopped, frowning, as his thoughts meandered off in an unhappy direction.  
Tasuki stared at him in amazement. "Man... all this time I thought you were just gay... I never thought you'd be all... cra-...er... I mean, Nuriko... that's some of the sweetest shit I've ever heard of anyone doing," he paused. "But it's not right. She wouldn't have wanted you to live her life... I think she would have wanted you to live for yourself..."  
Nuriko smushed his face with his hands, thinking somehow that it would make him not feel so hopeless.  
"I mean... she's dead. It was just her time, you know...?" Tasuki cringed, realizing that he was trying to give Nuriko a pep-talk. Tasuki was horrible at pep-talks. "It's just not right for you to keep yourself from living your own life for nothing... cause no matter how much you want to, you can't live your sister's life. You're just making your own life a hell of a lot harder."  
"Tasuki... stop," Nuriko pounded his own forehead, "I know, I know... please don't do this to me. I know I've only managed to make my life into a huge mess and I don't care. I want to go back to living for Kourin..."  
"But you weren't living for her! You know what you were living for? A damn lie. It's just not right to lie to everyone like that. Hell, you're even lying to yourself... Nuriko just be yourself and don't worry about trying to be anything..."  
Tasuki was right. He was only living for a lie. A lie. He deceived people just by breathing, just by living. What a horrible creature he had sculpted himself into... some kind of demon that lives off of lying to innocent people... manipulating their thoughts and making them trust him. They would tell him their soul, and in return he would only tell them a lie. He didn't want to lie to anyone else, but... it was too late. He wished he were dead.  
"Tasuki... I'm going to go to sleep. It's getting late."  
"Alright," Tasuki sighed, shaking his head as he stood up off of Nuriko's bed.  
"Hell..." he sat back down, wrapping his arms around the other seishi in a tight hug, "I love you, Nuriko... You. Not your sister."  
Nuriko blinked. Somehow, in some strange way, that simple phrase made it temporarily alright. If someone loved him... it was... it was a lie. "I lied to you..."  
"I don't care. I still love you. You need to stop beating yourself down over everything... Just don't think."  
"Alright..." he tried to clear his mind, "Maybe it'll be better if I can just sleep it off." He pulled Tasuki closer to him, "I don't know what I'd do without you, Tasuki... I love you." Nuriko laughed dryly as he reached for Tasuki's hands, "Sorry for rambling..."  
"Hey, your rambling is one hell of a lot better than anyone else's anything... or something."  
Nuriko smiled. Tasuki sure knew how to make someone forget their worries. The purple-haired seishi closed his eyes as Tasuki kissed him. Slowly, he pulled away, standing up once more.  
"Night," he grinned as he stepped out the door slowly, closing it behind him leaving Nuriko very alone. He sighed, flopping onto his back. It would all be ok. If he could always have Tasuki around to make him feel better, it would all be ok. Nuriko grabbed the end of his long braid, slowly unbraiding it. He smiled a little, crawling under the blankets, not really caring about sleeping in his clothes. It would be ok, he reassured himself a little. He just needed to live for the moment. From now on he wouldn't dwell on the past or the future... he would just kinda go with whatever life threw at him. It would all turn out ok if Tasuki were there. He ran his hands through his soft, long hair. And Tasuki would always be there.  
  
Finally, they had arrived in Hokkan. The sun was just setting as they stood on the docks, watching the workers unload their things. Nuriko shivered in the cold breeze, wishing that he were back in Kounan where it was a civilized temperature.  
"So... how do we figure out where this... 'shinzaho' is?" Tamahome inquired as they sat around the table. Once they actually had made their way to the small country's capital, a journey that had taken only a few afternoons, the group had found themselves at a loss. None of them had any idea what or where this shinzaho was.  
"Well," Chichiri started, "We know that its here in this city no da..." he scratched his cheek, "and... I guess that's all no da."  
"Great," Tasuki sighed, letting his head fall limply to the tabletop with a loud thunk, "FUCK!"  
"Tasuki! Be quiet!"  
"Sorry! That fucking hurt!"  
"Anyway... I suppose the only way we can find it is to ask people who live here no da."  
They all sighed. This was going to be a very long day/week/however long it took them to find it.  
"We'll need to split up no da," Chichiri went on, "so we can find it quicker no da."  
"But what do we do when we find it?" Nuriko asked. "I mean what if someone else has already found out where it is, but the rest of us don't know that? We need some way of keeping in touch."  
"Hmm... That is a problem no da."  
"So why don't we just all go together and find an inn, then each day we all meet back there at sunset?"  
"Wow, Nuriko!!!!111 You do the think yum yum!!!!!!!1" Miaka beamed at him.  
"Erm... thanks."  
"So how are we going to split up? Obviously, me and Miaka will go together," Tamahome said, making gooey eyes at Miaka. Tasuki distinctly made a gagging noise. "I'd better go with Chiriko no da," Chichiri had been keeping a close eye on the suspected Seiryuu seishi ever since he had confided his suspicions to Nuriko on the boat. "Tasuki, why don't you go with Mitsukake?"  
"Yeah! Since you're such a hothead! Mitsukake is the only one boring enough to put up with you!"  
"I wanna go with Nuriko." Everyone seemed surprised that Tasuki hadn't tried to start a fight with Tamahome after his comment.  
Nuriko blushed, fidgeting with his hands. He was always used to being shunted one way or another. Never once since Kourin died had anyone actually chosen him.  
"But why?" Miaka asked stupidly.  
"He doesn't need to be by himself."  
"Neither does Mitsukake!"  
"Well then why the hell don't you and Miaka take him?"  
"We want to be alone"  
"Oh yeah! Like you two are actually going to look for the Shinzaho if that happens. I'd hate to be the poor fuck that finds you two in some dark alley! His eyes'll probably explode or something!"  
"Hey! You take that back!"  
"Make me!"  
"You guys, don't start now. We have to get this settled so we can go."  
They both angrily sat back down, eyeing each other evilly the whole time.  
"Mitsukake will go with Chiriko and me no da."  
"Yup... that's me..."  
Everyone gave Amiboshi a puzzled look.  
"Me being Chiriko... I just wanted to remind everyone that I was, in fact, Chiriko... heh... heheheh"  
"Oh okay," everyone said except Nuriko and Chichiri, who exchanged dark looks. Chichiri had a point. Amiboshi was a little too persistent about proclaiming his identity...  
Chichiri cleared his throat. "Well, we're wasting time just sitting here no da. I think this is an inn, anyway, so, until sunset, everyone no da," He rose out of his chair. The rest of the company followed suit.  
So they filed out of the inn, Mitsukake, Amiboshi, and Chichiri took the road going west. Miaka and Tamahome took the north road, while Nuriko and Tasuki headed off to the east.  
"Tasuki," Nuriko started as soon as they were out of earshot of the others, "thanks for saying you wanted to go with me back there."  
"Well you couldn't expect me to just say 'Yeah, sure! I'll go with Mr. Personality!' when the love of my life is sitting right across from me."  
Nuriko blushed. "The love of your life? You really think that?" Nuriko thought that the idea of him being the love of anyone's life was incredibly hard to believe.  
"Shit. Of course I do. I mean, you're a GUY! Why the hell would I want to be with a guy unless he was the only one for me?"  
"I don't know," Nuriko sighed, shrugging his shoulders, looking down at the ground.  
"Aw Nuriko, what's wrong?"  
"Nothing. It's just... I've just been feeling weird lately." "Weird how?"  
"I think I'm going crazy," he laughed slightly, "I keep having these arguments with myself. I don't even know who I am anymore..."  
"Nuriko! The sexy seishi! The delicious drag queen! The--"  
Nuriko laughed. "But see... I never thought of myself that way... A drag queen. I always thought of myself as a girl. As my sister," he furrowed his brow. "Only... I didn't think of myself as my sister... I thought of myself as me... only I was my sister."  
Tasuki gave him a confused look.  
"I thought of myself as Kourin. Not Ryuuen..." his soft face crinkled into a thoughtful expression.  
"Ryuuen? Is that your real name?"  
"Yes. No. It used to be."  
"Used to be?"  
"Until I was Kourin," Nuriko's brow furrowed, "Until..." he murmured, shaking his head, "No. I've always been Kourin..."  
Tasuki looked at him, furrowing his brow. "Look... Nuriko... I sure as hell don't understand what you're saying... but," he paused, looking for the right way to say it, "I realize that you've got a lot going on in your head... And maybe you just need to forget about it. Just don't think about it. You're you. You've never been anyone else, and you aren't anyone else now, so there's no use in driving yourself crazy over it..."  
Nuriko sighed.  
"I mean... I know I don't know what it's like for you, but... I honestly just think you shouldn't worry about it."  
"...You're right..." "Damn straight!"  
Nuriko laughed, wiping his thoughts clean as Tasuki's hand found his.  
  
Nuriko and Tasuki sauntered back into the inn a few minutes after the sun had gone behind the mountains, immediately noticing that all the others had beat them back. They joined the table that the rest of the seishi were occupying.  
"How long have you guys--"  
"A few hours," Tamahome cut Nuriko off, "We found out where it is."  
"Holy shit! You mean the shinzaho is lodged up Miaka's--"  
"Tasuki! This is important!"  
Tasuki poutily quieted himself.  
"It's in the mountain!!!!111111" Miaka blabbed idiotically, her head rolling from side to side.  
"Over that way no da," Chichiri showed with a wave of his hand.  
"Great! Wow... We'll be able to summon Suzaku in just a few days at this rate!" Nuriko grinned.  
Tasuki squeezed Nuriko's hand under the table. 


	17. chapter 17

Well this is fun. FY is the lady's. Um. Beware of smut.  
  
Tasuki took a deep breath, laying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. He mushed his face with his large callused hand. He didn't know why, but he needed to ask Nuriko tonight about what they would do after Suzaku was summoned. He thought back to when he had asked him to come to Mount Leikaku with him. The red haired bandit bit his lip in thought. He wasn't entirely sure now that he wanted to go back to being a bandit. He had changed without even realizing it. The young man that once found himself so fond of drinking and committing crimes now found himself straining his mind to remember where the excitement had been. How long had it been since he had gotten himself drunk?  
"Too. Damn. Long," Good Tasuki hissed through gritted teeth.  
Tasuki jumped a little before smiling, "Hey little guys! It's been a while!"  
"Ah shove it, fag boy," Bad Tasuki was obviously still upset over the fact that Tasuki was in love with a boy.  
"Hey!" Good Tasuki shouted, "You shut the fuck up!"  
"For the love of... Now I remember why I kept you drunk!" Bad Tasuki tackled Good Tasuki and dragged him, in a headlock, out the door.  
Tasuki sighed, "Too damn long. Little guy's fucking right." He stood up and started out the door to go downstairs.  
He would have proceeded down the stairs to get himself thoroughly smashed, if he had not heard a loud thud come from Nuriko's room. He hesitated a moment before opening the door, until he heard Nuriko gasping for breath. This persuaded Tasuki that something might be wrong, so he quickly opened the door.  
  
Nuriko spun around from where was on the floor, his eyes frozen wide.  
  
"Shit, Nuriko! Are you ok?" Tasuki strode over to where Nuriko was on the floor, "What'd you do to your hair?" he asked as he noticed the remains of what was Nuriko's waist length cascade of hair laying on the floor. "I cut it."  
"Why?! It was so pretty!" He surveyed Nuriko with now chin length hair, "But damn, you look even hotter now." He surveyed again. "Nuriko... you're all pale..."  
Nuriko stared at the floor.  
"And I heard a loud kind of 'thud' noise... what happened?" "I fell."  
"Aw, why? What happened? You're not hurt are you?"  
"No... I just..." he furrowed his brow, looking as if he were trying to remember a dream, "I was... I heard... these voices... shouting. It was me. I told you... It was like I was arguing with myself... And... one part was saying things like I killed Ryuuen... and now I had killed Kourin, too... and... the other one was... it was..." he trailed off, "I can't remember what it was saying..." he cocked his head to one side slightly, "And then I just kind of noticed I was laying on the floor, when I had been standing up earlier..."  
"God damn it, Nuriko..." Tasuki whispered, "You're scaring me." He pulled him into a close hug, softly rubbing the other boy's back. "How long has this been going on? When was the first time?"  
Nuriko thought for a moment. "Right after Hotohori died. And a few times since then..."  
"Well shit... Nuriko, why don't you sleep in my room tonight? I'll look after you and make sure it doesn't happen again." "Okay."  
Tasuki heaved himself up and lowered a hand to help Nuriko up. The purple haired seishi gave him a small smile.  
Tasuki put his arm around Nuriko's waist, thinking how beautiful he looked when he smiled, steering him back to his room.  
  
"It really... I feel a lot better now that I'm not alone," Nuriko smiled as he laid down and pulled the blankets over him, "Thank you, Tasuki."  
"Thank me? I haven't given you a reason to thank me yet," he grinned his fanged grin, accompanied by a suggestive glare, as he propped himself on his elbow facing the other seishi.  
Nuriko laughed, pulling Tasuki on top of him, "So does that mean you're going to give me one?"  
"Or several," Tasuki grinned, kissing him.  
Nuriko pulled away. "Should I thank you now?"  
Tasuki undid the clasp on Nuriko's shirt, while laughing, "Only if you can come up with a better way of thanking me after this..."  
  
uh... anyway... O.o  
  
Soi felt, not for the first time, like brutally murdering Suboshi. "No, Suboshi, I don't know when your aniki will back." She shut her eyes, hoping that it would block out the unceasing whines. It didn't. "No, Suboshi, he hasn't forgotten about you." Soi sighed heavily. "Yes, Suboshi, I'm sure he misses you very much." Oh my god. "Yes, Suboshi, I'm sure he misses you as much as you miss him." What the hell was wrong with that kid? Soi ground her teeth. "Yes, Suboshi, I'm sure he still loves you."  
"Then why hasn't he been writing back to me? He hasn't said anything for weeks! Why? I've been writing him messages every day! Right there on my arm! Clear as day! There's no reason why he couldn't see it! And even if he couldn't see it, he could feel it! He would know! So it's not that he doesn't know that I'm trying to find out if he's ok, it's that he doesn't care! What if those horrible Suzaku's have gotten him tied up so he can't write back? Oh Aniki..." he bit his lip in worry.  
"No, Suboshi, I don't know why he hasn't been writing back to you."  
"That has to be it! Poor Aniki! I have to go save him! I bet I could find them in the city! They must have brought him with them to Hokkan! It would be easy to find them! I could just go up there and teach them all to hold my brother captive! Damn those Suzakus! How could they tie up my aniki like that? That has to be what happened to him or else he would write back to me! They must have him tied up somewhere... Oh poor Aniki..."  
"No, Suboshi, they don't have Amiboshi tied up." Soi kneaded her forehead with her knuckles. "Look, Suboshi just listen to me for a second. Suboshi. SUBOSHI! Yes. Thank you. Now listen. Nakago has sent Ashitare up to the mountain where the shinzaho is. Ashitare is instructed to kill all the Suzaku s-- No, Suboshi, he won't mistake Amiboshi for a Suzaku. Listen! Once he's killed all the Suzaku, he and your brother are going to get the shinzaho and bring it b-- No, Suboshi. Then they're coming back here, so-- Of course, Suboshi. So it'll only be a few days before your brother isâ€"- I don't know, Suboshi â€" It'll only be a few days before yourâ€"- I seriously doubt that, Suboshiâ€" It'll only be a few days before your brother is back. So please stop whin-- No, Suboshi, they won't get caught in a bad storm." Soi's eye twitched. "Yes, Suboshi, I'm sure your brother misses you very much. I already told you, Suboshi, I don't know why he hasn't been writing back to you."  
  
He's so cute XD  
  
Nuriko groggily blinked the sunshine out of his eyes, shutting them tightly again and rolling over, but finding that there was something blocking him from doing so. He rubbed his eyes before opening them. His heart started pounding so loudly that he thought it would wake up the bandit that was laying asleep next to him. Suddenly Nuriko found himself drowning in memories of the previous night. Well. It was drowning, only in a pleasant way. The seishi braved a look at Tasuki.  
He looked so sweet when he was asleep, Nuriko thought to himself. He fought the urge to wrap his arms around him, fearing that such an action would wake him up. Nuriko found himself at a loss for what to do. He knew he wanted to keep laying here with Tasuki, but he also knew that they would have to set out to find the shinzaho. He sighed. The rest were probably already downstairs waiting for them.  
"Tasuki," he whispered, gently shaking the other seishi's shoulders. "Tasuki, wake up."  
Tasuki made a distinct groaning sound before rolling over and holding the pillow over his head.  
Laughing softly, Nuriko tried again, "Tasuki."  
The sleepy bandit turned his head to face the sound of the voice, blinking his eyes open. Tasuki grinned his fanged grin as he saw Nuriko, "Morning."  
"Tasuki, the others are probably waiting on us downstairs... We need to get going," Nuriko ran a hand through Tasuki's soft red hair.  
He groaned again and shut his eyes, grabbing Nuriko's arm and pulling the smaller boy on top of him, "Just a few more minutes..."  
Nuriko laughed, kissing him on the cheek.  
Suddenly, Tasuki didn't seem so sleepy anymore. He wrapped his arms tightly around the seishi and kissed him back fiercely.  
"We need to go downstairs, Tasuki," Nuriko protested before kissing him again.  
This time Tasuki was the one to pull away, "I love you," he breathed as he kissed Nuriko's cheek.  
"They don't really need us anyway..." Nuriko's lips found Tasuki's once more.  
"Nuriko-san!"  
"Shit," murmured Tasuki as Amiboshi's voice called down the hallway. Both he and Nuriko flew out of bed.  
"Tasuki-san!" Amiboshi called, a little puzzled by the fact that Nuriko's room was empty. Oh well. He could look for Nuriko after the daunting task of getting Tasuki up. Amiboshi sighed before opening Tasuki's door. "Nuriko-san! What are you doing in here?"  
Nuriko felt highly relieved that they had managed to eliminate all evidence of smuttiness before the door was opened. "I was just waking up Tasuki-chan."  
"Oh... ok... Well, the rest of us SUZAKU SEISHI are downstairs... Um... Yeah."  
"Chiriko," Nuriko stopped the younger seishi from walking out the door, "Come back in here."  
Tasuki gave him a puzzled look.  
"Y-Yes, Nuriko-san?"  
"What's with all this need to reassure us that you're Chiriko?"  
"W-What?"  
Nuriko rolled his violet eyes, "Oh come on. You're always so defensive about the fact that you're Chiriko. It's suspicious. Especially since you said that your brother's name was Suboshi."  
"It's a common name..." Amiboshi looked like his head might explode.  
"No! No, it's not! Look, Chiriko, I've heard rumors."  
"What rumors?" he weakly asked, his eyes searching the floor.  
"That two of the Seiryuu seishi are twin brothers... and about your age. And one of them's named Suboshi."  
"Well that is quite damning evidence. Except that you see... I'm Chiriko."  
"Oh my god..." Nuriko hid his face in his hands.  
"I'll tell Chichiri-san! I-I bet you're just trying to put the blame  
on me...! Because... cause YOU'RE the fake seishi! I'LL MESS YOU UP!"  
Nuriko rolled his eyes. Tasuki sat back down.  
"Come on, Chiriko... I'm just trying to figure this out between us. Sooner or later we're going to find out who the fake is, anyway. So please just tell me. I won't hold it against you."  
Amiboshi twitched, pointing at himself, "Chi-ri-ko..." he nervously grinned.  
"Oh my GOD! What is your problem!?" Nuriko raised his delicate voice, throwing his thin arms up into the air. "Just... Just go. Tell them we'll be down in a minute," he pushed the younger boy out the door.  
Amiboshi allowed himself to be shunted out the door, leaning against it once it was closed and sighing. What had given him away to Nuriko? His acting had been flawless... he just couldn't explain it. He shrugged. Maybe Nuriko just didn't like him. He smiled. With any luck it'd be only a few more days until he returned home with the shinzaho to see his brother.  
Nuriko stood facing the door for a moment, exasperated. Maybe, he thought, maybe Chichiri was wrong. Chiriko seemed like such a nice kid... there was just no way he could be bad. Maybe he just was a little slow, he reasoned. He turned back around, smiling to see that Tasuki had fallen back asleep.  
  
A good fifteen minutes later, the two slinked downstairs, hoping that their late entrance would go more or less unnoticed. They quietly found their two empty chairs at the large wooden table. Tamahome bore such a grin on his face that Nuriko thought it certain that he, at least, had noticed something suspicious about their delayed arrival.  
"Tasuki-kun! Nuriko-kun! Good morning no da! We were just discussing how we're going to go about getting the shinzaho no da. The plan is to have half the people stay here and guard Miaka while the rest go and get it no da."  
"Sounds good," Nuriko nodded.  
"So how do we decide who goes and who stays?" Tasuki asked.  
"Well, how about Mitsukake, Chiriko, and me stay here no da? That way I can keep Miaka safe no da. So Tasuki, Nuriko, and Tamahome go up to the mountain because they're fastest no da. It should be easy enough no da."  
Everyone nodded in agreement, except Miaka.  
"but iowanttamehome to staye here iwht jmeeeeeeeee!!1111111 sdn chirjkieko up instead of him!!!!!?//"  
"But, Miaka," Chichiri thought of what to say, not wanting to let on that he didn't feel comfortable with Chiriko out of his sight, especially when something so important was at risk, "we need Chiriko down here because he's so young no da."  
"Send Mitsujiuaki...ka.. yumanba...ke... instead!!!11111"  
"Miaka, if something happens to you, we need him here to heal you," Tamahome said, "I'll be alright, my love."  
"That is MESSED UP!"  
"Hush, Tasuki," Nuriko whispered, smacking his arm.  
  
--------- suboshi's soooo cute XD 


	18. chapter 18

Erm... I only torture them because I love them... teehee XD FY= Yuu Watase's You = reviewing :D  
  
So they found themselves, standing outside the cold inn, squinting the cold wind out of their eyes. The atmosphere within the group was suddenly tense, as if the reality of the situation had only now set in. The outcome of this afternoon would alter the fate of a country. Nuriko stared hard at his hands. Tasuki was gazing at Nuriko in awe. Tamahome and Miaka stood staring wistfully into each other's eyes. Chichiri was distrustfully eyeing Amiboshi, who was playing his flute. Mitsukake stared with rapt attention at his feet. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming behind him. He slowly turned his neck. Too slowly. Someone had grabbed him from behind and was dragging him off into some dark alley. Mitsukake tried to fight back, but the assailant had him in an iron death grip that only the great Jaws of Life could break. He tried to scream, but his captor gagged him before he could make a single sound. He found himself being shoved onto the ground in an abandoned alley. He looked upon the face of his kidnapper. It was... Chiriko! How could he? He was his ally! His trusted comrade! His Agh! He'd been punched in the stomach. He was forced onto the ground, being ruthlessly kicked by the vicious youth. Chiriko lifted him up by the hair, throwing his head onto the cobblestone street with great force. Slowly, everything went black for Mitsukake. Suboshi took a bit of rope out of his back pocket, tightly binding the boring seishi's hands and feet and redoing the gag in his mouth. Slinging the unconscious seishi over his shoulder, Suboshi leaped off toward the river. This one was going to be swimming with the fishies soon.  
  
The six of them stood like this for quite a while, unaware of the disappearance of Mitsukake, before Nuriko's voice came weakly, "Well... I guess we need to get going. Are you guys staying here?"  
Chichiri nodded.  
"Well I guess we'd better go... I'd hate to be caught out here after dark," Tamahome sighed, still holding onto Miaka.  
"I'll walk with you to the border of the city!" Miaka suggested.  
Chichiri shrugged, "I don't see why not no da. Why don't we all go no da?" he glanced at Amiboshi. "Um... Where is Mitsukake-san no da?"  
"I'm right here!" Suboshi came running briskly from the direction of the docks.  
The seishi twitched.  
"Suboshi!!" Amiboshi leapt into his long lost brother's arms.  
"Um. No. I'm Mitsukake. Your fellow Suzaku seishi. Mitsukake."  
Amiboshi jumped out of his arms, a look of mingled shock and overpowering sorrow on his face.  
"Oh. Weird. I always thought you kinda sucked," Tamahome looked him up and down.  
"Yeah! You suddenly got a lot cooler," Tasuki commented, patting him on the shoulder.  
"I never noticed how much you two look alike!" Nuriko glanced from Amiboshi to Suboshi. "I guess I never really looked at you before. You were always... so boring."  
"Yup. And here I am. Mitsukake."  
Amiboshi stood off to the side, looking hurt.  
"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Tasuki cheered, as they all started walking.  
The walk down the winding streets was pleasant, although cold. Nuriko clutched Tasuki's arm tighter as the wind picked up and blew snow into their faces. Tamahome and Miaka had paired off, as usual, and were making sickening cooing noises at each other. Chichiri was staring at Suboshi and Amiboshi with mistrust.  
"Pst." Suboshi whispered, striding alongside Amiboshi.  
Amiboshi looked at him pathetically. "I'm sorry about earlier... It's just... I've really been missing my brother lately... and I never noticed how much you looked like him before," he sighed. "So you HAVE missed me!" Suboshi embraced Amiboshi tearfully. "Um... Mitsukake-san. You're being weird." Suboshi just clung more tightly to his ever-so-slightly older brother. "This is making me uncomfortable, Mitsukake-san. This is awkward," he protested. "Amiboshi," Suboshi whispered, "It's me, Suboshi! I'm only pretending to be Mitsukake!" Amiboshi's face lit up. "Yay!!!" He hugged his brother as tightly as he could. Meanwhile, all was silent between Nuriko and Tasuki. That was why they had been the only ones to notice that what appeared to be a large werewolf was leaping towards Miaka and Tamahome.  
"Miaka!!" Nuriko screamed, leaping and shoving her out of the way, allowing himself to be hit by the large creature's razor sharp talons of doom in her place.  
Miaka at first was puzzled as to why Nuriko had pushed her over and sent her rolling through the cold snow. She was about to protest when she saw the beast. Her mouth hung open. Finally she managed a scream, hers mingling with those of the surrounding townsfolk, who were eagerly running around trying to get out. Some of them ran over to see what the commotion was, but quickly ran away as the werewolf... thing chased after them.  
Nuriko lay there for a moment face down in the snow. All the feeling in his body seemed to be congregated around his freely bleeding arm, leaving the rest of his body feeling numb, discarded. A scream from Miaka brought him staggering to his dainty feet, swaying slightly for a second as pain wracked his body. He ran over to join the pack of Suzaku seishi that were now surrounding their miko, prepared to fight to the death.  
Miaka screamed again, pointing wildly "HHAAAAANDDDDDDDdddddd!!!!!!!!!11111" The monstrous creature was now viciously eating what appeared to be a bloody human hand. The air was filled with screams.  
"Suzaku no Miko..." it growled.  
"It's a Seiryuu seishi no da!" Chichiri exclaimed, his hands grabbing his prayer beads as he murmured an incantation.  
"Ashitare! It's been a while! Sup my man?" Amiboshi started towards his long lost fellow seishi, but stopped himself at the disbelieving looks on the Suzaku seishi's faces. "Er... I mean... Vile beast! I shall smite you with the wrath of Suzaku!!!"  
  
The Seiryuu seishi ran at them with great strides, giving Amiboshi a high five as it ran past, its mouth wide open, exposing sharp, pointed teeth. The group surrounding Miaka panicked. Tamahome grabbed Miaka and leapt towards the ground, trying to get her out of the way.  
"Tasuki! Your fan!!" Nuriko screamed. Tasuki failed to do anything, so Nuriko snatched the fan out of the bandit's hand, waving out a huge cloud of flame at the wolf, screeching, "Lekka Shinen!!"  
The monstrous Seiryuu seishi let out an animal-like cry before leaping on top of the closest building, jumping along rooftops until he was out of sight, clutching his clawed hand to his burnt face. Amiboshi and Suboshi snuck off behind him.  
Nuriko dropped the heavy metal fan to the ground as Miaka's squeal came calling through the cold air, "Wow, Nuriko! You messed him up good!!!11" "Hell yeah," Tasuki joined in, "And considering you saved all our asses, I'll let it slide that you touched my fan."  
Nuriko laughed, despite the fact that his arm was now hurting worse than ever.  
Chichiri looked around worriedly, "The Seiryuu seishi are here no da... We have to get the shinzaho as quickly as possible no da! What if they're after it too no da? Come on Miaka, Mitsukake..." he stopped pulling off his mask, "Where is Chiriko no da?" "He was here a minute ago..." Tamahome furrowed his brow, "Maybe he figured he might as well not, since he wasn't going to get the shinzaho?"  
Worry filled Nuriko's eyes. "Chichiri..."  
Chichiri sighed, shaking his head, "I guess I was right about him no da."  
"He likes the brothers!!!!" Miaka squealed happily.  
"I always figured he was the fake seishi no da..."  
"Fake seishi? There's a fake mountain??//" Miaka had obviously forgotten about Taiitsukun's announcement that one of them wasn't a Suzaku seishi.  
"It only makes sense that he would disappear just in time to give his fellow seishi notice of where we were no da." Chichiri clenched his fist. "Oh well no da. We just have to get the shinzaho that much faster no da. Can you three manage it no da?"  
Tasuki, Tamahome, and Nuriko nodded.  
"Alright then, no da. Come on Miaka, Mitsukake. Mitsukake?" Chichiri looked around. Mitsukake was nowhere to be found either. Oh well, he figured. He had been weird all day. Maybe he was sick or something and had just gone back to the inn.  
Tamahome was gazing after their retreating figures. Tasuki took this time to give Nuriko a big hug. How special.  
"Ow!" Nuriko jerked back.  
"What's wrong?"  
"Well... it's just... that thing back there got my arm pretty bad when I got Miaka out of the way," he pulled at the rip in his sleeve, examining the wound.  
Tasuki leaned in to see, "SHIT! Get that Mitsufuki guy over here! Hey! Hey!" he ran after the others, catching up to them rather quickly. Nuriko couldn't hear what they were saying from where he was. Tasuki pointed to Nuriko, saying something to Chichiri. Nuriko laughed as he heard Miaka gasp loudly. Suddenly, Tasuki turned around, looking put off.  
"Mitsukake went back to the inn or something. Sorry. I'll bandage it for you."  
The journey up the mountain was cold and tiring. About halfway up, they decided to split up. Tasuki and Tamahome went off either direction, leaving Nuriko to the path going straight up. He sighed, surveying the steep path ahead of him before continuing through the deepening snow.  
Nuriko had never been so cold in his entire life. He frowned. His whole body was shaking, his feet hurt, and his fingers didn't seem to want to move, but he had to keep going. All for his miko. He smiled, thinking that although Miaka wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box at times, that she had her good points too. He even went so far as to think to himself that he was glad to nearly freeze to death for her. In a lot of ways, he thought, she was like Kourin... only several dozen IQ points lower. Or he felt the same way for both of them at least. He certainly knew he would have climbed up any giant icicle for Kourin, just as he now was for Miaka.  
He let his thoughts wander freely as he continued the lonely, upward climb. He stopped for a second. He had been thinking of Kourin... and none of the things that had accompanied these thoughts before came. There was no part of him crying out in protest that he had no sister. Not even a part telling him that he was his sister. He was just a young man thinking fondly of his little sister. He smiled, continuing on his way.  
Finally, he saw a break in the bare white mountainside. "Looks like I was the right one to come here after all..." he murmured to himself, taking notice of a set of huge, heavy looking doors with an even bigger, heavier looking boulder sitting directly in front of them, preventing them from opening. Surely, he thought, the shinzaho was in there. "Alright," he smiled, "I'll just move this here and..." his attention was taken from surveying the large rock by a sudden feeling that someone was watching him. He turned, seeing the same Seiryuu seishi from before, only this time he looked very badly burned and was accompanied by Amiboshi and Suboshi. "Chiriko! Mitsukake! What are you doing with.. that thing?!" Nuriko shouted.  
"I have a name you know," the beast said in an indignant tone, standing before Nuriko sharpening his claws on a rather large emery board. "Oh right! You wouldn't care what my name is. The great and wonderful Suzaku seishi don't care about names. They just throw some fire at you and expect you to just nance on back home."  
Nuriko blinked, having expected something less... human sounding to be said by such a beast. He looked at Amiboshi and Suboshi confusedly, expecting them to give some kind of explanation as to why they were with this monster. Amiboshi just kind of shrugged, giving Nuriko a look as if to tell him that he didn't quite get Ashitare either.  
"Well my name is Ashitare, since you aren't polite enough to ask, you poncy tosser. And I'm going to have to kill you and eat you and then find the rest of your little friends and eat them too. Yum yum. Especially the Suzaku no miko," he said in a breezy, offhand kind of voice as he blew the shavings off his claws. "I was thinking maybe I'd broil you and then whip up a delightful sort of an herb marinade... perhaps on a bed of..." he looked to Suboshi and Amiboshi, eager to see what they thought of his suggestion, "I'm thinking casserole... I'm thinking vegetables and... and how about that scrumptious sauce I made last time?"  
"Uh... I can't just stand there and let you say that. There's no way I'd ever let anyone hurt my friends."  
"Yawn."  
"Shut up!"  
Ashitare rolled his yellow eyes.  
"If you're not going to talk, then come on and fight me!" The way Ashitare was acting now made him seem a lot less brutal than he had earlier, although there was no denying that he must been at least twice Nuriko's size, and those claws looked deadly. He thought that he, Chiriko, and Mitsukake could definitely fend him off together.  
Ashitare growled, glaring at him, as if the challenge to fight had lowered his mentality back to subhuman.  
"Come on!" Nuriko struck a battle stance.  
Ashitare, however, did not come. The three Seiryuu seishi just stood there.  
"Come on, then!"  
They continued to stand there, motionless. Suddenly, Suboshi leapt forward, slinging what appeared to be spinning balls on the end of a long rope at Nuriko, giggling profusely. Ashitare took that as the signal for him to strike. Nuriko was on the ground before he knew what hit him. He squinted, seeing Ashitare on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Nuriko tried to swing at him, but the beast was too quick. Nuriko leapt off of the ground, rather alarmed to see Suboshi charge at him. He was even more alarmed when the yo-yo-esque weapons ripped straight through his flesh. Ashitare was coming at him again, and the yo-yo's were rounding back on him from behind.  
"Amiboshi! Help us get him!" Suboshi called, charging Nuriko with his ryuuseisui.  
Amiboshi still stood there, motionless.  
"Scramble his brains, aniki!" The ryuuseisui skinned Nuriko's side again right before Ashitare struck him in the face. Nuriko blindly, vainly tried to grab Ashitare.  
Amiboshi hesitated before pulling his flute out of his pocket, staring as Nuriko clutched a freely bleeding wound on his side as he tried to fight back against his two assailants. "I'm sorry, Nuriko-san..."  
  
------------------------- er... I'm not exactly sure why I had Suboshi take out Mitsukake... lmao. It just kinda happened. :D erm. Yeah. Poor Nuriko. Why do I always end up being mean to my favourite characters? 


	19. chapter 19

Sigh. FY isn't mine :'(  
  
"Come on! Let's go!"  
Ashitare dislodged Nuriko from being impaled on his gigantic claws, letting the broken seishi fall to the ground, landing in a bloody heap. "Ugh. Blood all under my nails," Ashitare commented as he jogged off, Suboshi following closely behind. Amiboshi still stood, unmoving, staring at Nuriko.  
"Aniki," Suboshi called, turning around and walking back over to his brother, misinterpreting his motionlessness, "Don't worry. He won't last long. Come on. We have to tell Nakago where the Shinzaho is before the other Suzaku seishi get here!"  
Amiboshi kept staring at Nuriko, who was slowly, feebly lifting himself up, his arms shaking pathetically as he kneeled on all fours, blood dripping steadily onto the snow.  
"Huh..." Suboshi marveled as his endurance before sending the ryuuseisui flying through his small chest one last time. Nuriko dropped back limply to the ground. "There. Now let's go, aniki!"  
  
Nuriko shuddered as he lay there on his stomach. The pain was too great. He couldn't even think. He was going to die. He was going to die. He wished he would hurry up and get on with it... pain was just too great. But... he couldn't. He had to do something. He struggled to remember what. He opened his eyes, blinded by the brightness. He managed to make out a large boulder sitting within his vicinity. Oh yeah. He had to move that. He shuddered involuntarily just thinking about it. He got up very slowly, very weakly. He stood up, though he was almost doubled over in pain. He swayed, falling back to his knees. He put a hand to his stomach to try to ease the pain, quickly jerking it away. He stared at his hand, which was dripping with blood. He shook his head slightly, and stood back up. This time, he was able to stumble over to the boulder, grasping it for support and letting out a gurgling wheeze before setting to trying to move it.  
He wrapped his arms around the boulder, his violently shaking fingers struggling to find a hold. He could feel himself flickering in and out of consciousness as he strained to lift the massive boulder. The blinding white snow faded into things and images that he didn't understand. All he knew was that he liked wherever he suddenly was. There was no rock, no blood, no pain... he was just enjoying life. It was nighttime and he and.... A wave of dizziness and pain jolted him back to reality. He could feel his flesh tearing, his blood spilling out, filling his lungs. He suddenly noticed someone was standing a ways in front of him. He dropped the boulder, staring, gasping for breath, each growing more painful than the last.  
In disbelief, he strained to focus his eyes. After a few seconds he made out who it was standing there. "Kourin..." he smiled, wondering if he had lost consciousness again. No, he thought, the pain was too great. But... that didn't matter. Using every bit of his quickly vanishing strength, he murmured, "How long have you been there...?" He looked at the snow beneath him, a surge of fear heightening his pain. It was all red.  
  
His eyes flickered open, the blurred brightness stinging his eyes. He saw someone hovering over him. "Kourin..." he breathed, feeling the blood gurgle in his lungs.  
"Nuriko!" Tamahome's face slowly came into focus. Nuriko was lying on his back, his head in Tamahome's lap. Tamahome was holding a cloth to the other seishi's wound. Nuriko vaguely heard the crackling of a small fire. "Don't worry... The others'll be here soon, so just... just try to hold on."  
"Tamahome..." it came out weaker sounding than he had planned. "The shinzaho... I think... it's behind those doors," he took a labored breath, amazed at the intensity of the pain. "I didn't-"  
"Shh... Just lay still. Mitsukake will be here in a minute to heal you and then you can tell us everything, alright?" He brushed the hair out of Nuriko's face, wiping off some of the blood with his shirt sleeve. They waited silently for the other seishi to arrive.  
Suddenly, "Tamahome?"  
Nuriko tried to turn his head toward the sound of Tasuki's voice, opening his eyes slowly. Everything looked hazy. He blinked several times. Everything still looked dim and blurred.  
"Tamahome," Tasuki sounded strange, like he was underwater or he there was a wall between them, "What's wrong with Nuriko?" He sounded worried. Nuriko wished he wouldn't sound so worried. It made him worried to hear him like that. Nuriko could hear the slow crunch of his footsteps as he approached. "Holy shit..." the footsteps accelerated to a run as Tasuki caught sight of the red patches of snow that seemed to cover the entire area. He fell to his knees in front of Nuriko, his jaw dropped, a wave of panic surging over him. He'd seen badly wounded people before and the sight hadn't bothered him, but now he suddenly felt very sick to his stomach. "Oh god..." Hot tears started to leak down his chilled face.  
"Tasuki-chan... Don't cry," Nuriko smiled. Tasuki grabbed both of Nuriko's hands, squeezing them tighter than he meant to.  
Tasuki shook his head, the tears subsiding a little as he turned to Tamahome. "How long ago did you light the fire?"  
"About fifteen minutes ago..." Tamahome's voice sounded shaky, unstable.  
"Alright... so... if they're hurrying they should be here in another ten. Nuriko, you hear that? Hold on for ten more minutes, ok? Please, just don't die..."  
Nuriko shut his eyes. Everything looked worse than it had only a minute or so ago. He could barely make out Tasuki's face, even though it was only a few feet from his. Other than that, he was actually feeling better. The pain wasn't as severe as it had been, and he wasn't nearly as cold. In fact, he barely felt anything when he was shifted from Tamahome's lap to Tasuki's. Maybe the snow was helping to stop the bleeding. He touched his hand to his wound to see if the bleeding had stopped. He frowned as he looked at his hand. It was drenched in blood. The bleeding wasn't slowing at all.  
"Nuriko... just lay still," came Tamahome's voice.  
"Shit... He's bleeding pretty bad," Tasuki started to sound more worried. "Please don't die, Nuriko... please."  
"Don't worry, Tasuki... I told you, remember? That I didn't plan on dying..." He had to use all his strength to get out every word. Everything seemed to have faded to grey. "Tasuki?"  
Tasuki squeezed Nuriko's hands in his.  
  
Nuriko frowned slightly, hearing Tasuki's silent sobs, "After we get the shinzaho... and we summon Suzaku... I want to go to Mount Leikaku." Nuriko laughed slightly, coughing up blood, "I remember you said it wouldn't suit me there..."  
Tasuki gave a choked laugh, remembering that night when he had comforted Nuriko after Hotohori's death, "Yeah..."  
"You were wrong..." Nuriko felt his head start to swim.  
Tasuki stared at Nuriko's exposed wounds, unable to hold in the sobs. "It does suit me..."  
"Nuriko..." Tasuki whispered, stroking Nuriko's soft hands.  
"Because... that's where you'll be. So that's where I have to be..."  
"Nuriko..." Tasuki said, his throat seemed to be clenched shut, his heart racing and his stomach sinking as he stared at Nuriko's dark red hands. "Ok... That's a promise, then."  
"I promise..."  
Tamahome looked confused and panicked. "Nuriko, just lay still and don't talk. Everyone will be here in just a minute. Just stay still."  
"Tasuki... I love you."  
"No. Don't say that," Tasuki shut his eyes tightly.  
"But I do."  
"No. That sounds too much like goodbye. And we're not saying goodbye, you hear me?" He shook Nuriko's deathly cold hands slightly.  
"Tamahome... tell Miaka and the others-"  
"No! He's not telling them shit! You're going to tell them yourself," Tasuki bent down over him, wrapping his arms gently around Nuriko to draw him closer. Tasuki shakily placed a kiss on his cold lips, his tears dropping onto Nuriko's pallid, bloodstained cheeks. Nuriko had felt neither the kiss nor the tears.  
  
--------------------------- omg. I'm awful. :'(   
  
Big thank you's to everyone who's stuck with reading to the very end :D you win. And a HUGE thank you to everyone who's reviewed... sigh. I live for reviews. I've written a little like.. post-story thing. :-\ I'll post it if enough people ask me to lol (mwahaha I'll trick you into reviewing) 


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